Can my pool stay home alone for 10 days?

[Phillbo]

For that money you can hire a pool service to keep it in check while your gone . probably for less than 50.00.

[amyinraleigh]

The only cover I have is just the cheapie whatever cover that came with the pool - it definitely isn't a solar cover (I can only wish..... ). I'm sure the thing won't last long anyway, I'm not too worried about it losing life. It's pretty thin and so I guess it probably wouldn't keep out sun anyway, I'll have to pull it out and see but I would imagine it's main purpose is keeping debris out of the pool.

I don't have the pump on a timer, I have been just turning it on whenever, making sure it's on at least 8 hours a day. I'm a bit scared of putting it on a timer because of how the skimmer is mounted - it just hooks over the inflatable ring and depending on time of day (sunlight, temp) the ring is either very taut or pretty mushy allowing the skimmer to rise out of the water. I've tried to find a happy medium on fill of the ring and tightness of the skimmer hook so as to be stable enough to keep the skimmer submerged when it's cool out, yet not too tight to do damage to the ring during the sunlight hours. I've had to adjust the hook several times after the skimmer started sucking air soon after I turned the pump on - wouldn't want this to happen while no one is there to turn the pump off and adjust things....

The pool's only been up a week and this is my "learning" pool, so I'm still going by trial and error - and of course this site!! - on most everything. CYA is still dissolving, this morning was almost 30....I think.....still getting used to the tests, Walmart 5-way, by the way, next year I'll upgrade. Can I buy a high chlorine test at a pool store? I'm not sure how I'll measure shock levels w/o one.

adding a bit of bleach to a pool daily is a very complex and intricate thing that I imagine is well beyond the grasp of some people.

I hope this wasn't meant to be sarcastic , I can't really tell.....I live way out in the sticks and it is very inconvenient for any of my friends to drive all the way out here to mess with the pool - I would never ask them to. I have many pets that are going to be graciously well cared-for by my immediate neighbors, I don't want to dump the pool on them as well. That care and time is taken with my animals is much more important to me than overwhelming the caretakers with "a very complex and intricate" additional burden - which I myself don't even fully understand.

I really am worried about coming home to a swamp, as I understand it, the shortcomings of the underpowered Intex pump really shine while trying to clear an algae outbreak , but that may be my only option. I do have time before I leave and I will try your outline Chem Geek Richard (sincere thanks for the time you put into posting your experiment! ) I'm just not sure if I'll be able to accomplish much since I'm still in the stabilizing stages and brand-new to boot. I'll try though because I might be able to bring myself to ask a neighbor to add a definite amount of a definite chemical on a definite day with no testing and adjusting responsibilities. Whether I get to know the water well enough by that time remains to be seen, here's crossing my fingers!!

Thanks for all the helpful replies!

Amy

[chem geek]

If you can leave your pump on for the filter but turn off your pool sweep (is it on a separate pump or part of the main system? -- if part of the main system can you unscrew it where it attaches in the pool?). It is most important that you get circulation and not very important that you have your pool sweep running, especially if you are using a cover which should keep out much of the debris.

Even if the cover is thin, that's OK, it's more whether you can easily see through it or not -- is it clear or is it colored. Something will be better than nothing in any event. At least it's a cheap cover so it won't be horrible if it gets destroyed through this process.

Just so you know, I'm going on vacation starting this Thursday and through the following week (yes, we have someone staying at our house to tend to our two cats and the pool) so hopefully someone else will be able to help you out with the formulas and procedure I posted while I'm away. You've got a lot of bright, experienced and helpful people on this board so I'm sure you'll do fine. Good luck!

Richard

[sevver]

I was not meaning to be sarcastic towards you at all, just the unenlightened people who want to use the pool but claim that the upkeep of it is way over their heads. If you live out in the boonies then simply draining and refilling probably is not an option either is it?

[poolmom06]

How much chlorine do you usually use? Is it not possible to just tell someone to add say like a half of gallon a day til you return? Even the neighbor or something. Pay them... Everyone likes money. Get some kid, tell him that you will give him $50 if you come back to a clean pool, he has to add bleach every day, if he messes it up, no money. If it is really good tell him he gets $100.

Damn, that's what I should have told my BIL!!!!

[amyinraleigh]

OK, I can't stand it anymore - WHAT IS A BIL?!?!?!

[Karen_in_TN]

BIL = Brother-In-Law Okay, I'm gonna assume here that your skimmer attaches just like ours did on our Intex. I totally agree about the skimmer on the pool. You never know what it's gonna do. If you unhooked it from the wall. (the hose that runs from the botom of the basket to the fitting in the wall) Did your pool come with a strainer that you can screw on it if you don't want to use the skimmer? If you completely unhooked the skimmer then you wouldn't have to worry about it sucking air.

[medvampire]

This is one of the few times I might recommend a cheep prefilled chlorine floater from walmart. Get your floater, open to the recommended dosage for your pool, and tie to a weight to keep away from the sides toss it in. Give the floater enough string to float around the pool but keep away from the sides. Remove floater when you get home. Now go have a good vacation and have a few drinks for me.
Steve

[chem geek]

This is one of the few times I might recommend a cheep prefilled chlorine floater from walmart.
Steve

Steve,

I had thought of the Tri-Chlor 3" tablet floaters, but my recollection was that even putting in a few tablets, they might not last 10 days. I usually went through around 1 every 5 days and with more in the feeder, they might somewhat slow down erosion, but probably not by that much.

So does the prefilled chlorine floater you are talking about last longer?

Of course, I just had the thought of dialing down the Tri-Chlor feeder to slow it down -- DUH! So putting in several tablets (3-4) and dialing it down just might do the trick. Thanks for bringing up the floater idea again. Now Amy's got some options that seem easier than the route I was taking her.

If your feeder is filled with Tri-Chlor, then it will be like my feeder and will be quite acidic so if this is the route she takes, she'll want to raise the pH ahead of time and probably increase the alkalinity as well (to at least 120 if not more) to help buffer the pH swing. Since she plans to cover the pool, outgassing of CO2 is not that much of an issue. Sounds like a plan!

Richard

[medvampire]

Here is the product I spoke of
http://www.aquachem.com/AboutFSet.shtm

Stabilized Floater

• Contains 4 lbs. of chlorinating tablets
• Contains a built-in stabilizer to protect from sunlight burn-off
• Convenient self-dispensing disposable floater
• Ideal for vacation application
• Flips on its side when empty

Steve