Salt water and stairs....

[PoolDoc]

Yeah, if you have a cover, and can maintain the water while you're there, and cover it while you're gone, that would be a practical solution, I think. Pretty low maintenance, too.

Just don't make the mistake of forgetting to chlorinate fully when you arrive, and then trying to 'catch up' right before you leave. When chlorine burns up goo (mostly, people goo), it produces intermediate compounds that are broken down by chlorine + sun. If wait, and dose right before you leave, those some of those intermediate compounds will go to forms volatile halogen gas forms, accumulate under your cover, damage it, and then stink like crazy when you pull the cover off.

So, add your big chlorine doses when you arrive, and not when you leave.

[Kailuamom]

Gotcha - thanks for clarifying, as I had read to dose 4x chlorine. So now, I won't and instead will just deal with the chlorine when we return.

What about the chlor tabs we have floating?

[BigDave]

My experience with Intex donut was different - ours served our family for three seasons and my neighbors for two. It met it's end over the winter in my neighbor's storage shed. Apparently, mice like to eat vinyl. My experience is probably beyond the norm, we were very careful in use and in storage. The risk of pool failure for us would have been wiping out our neighbor's garden.

[PoolDoc]

The risk of pool failure for us would have been wiping out our neighbor's garden.

You mean like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBqZ62JpgHo