Anyway to not open the pool this summer?

[KirstenHW]

After years of pool forum lurking and being a BBB convert from 1998 or so, I sadly have been unable to open our 18x42 vinyl inground till now - working 2 hours away all summer plus construction at the house . . . so I am losing sleep about it. There's literally lillies growing on the mesh square of the solid safety cover.

I have not been able to do any checking of pH or FC at all this season so I know it is a mess. My gut says to open it, clean it up to make sure all is good for the fall. The liner is fine, as I have not lost any water . . . I'm just nervous and curious if it is worth opening now - if I have already damaged anything, if anyone else has had this situation. I feel bipolar about the whole thing!

Thanks everyone . . .

[KirstenHW]

Forgot to also ask -

I have a DE Perflex system so I can't set to bypass. So, if I do open today here's a pH quandary I have:

I will test then add my box or two of Borax to get pH right before I start to shock - but I must add the DE powder to the system immediately so as not to damage the fingers of the filter. How long do you all think it would take for the pH to come up high enough before I can start bleaching the bejeesus out of it?

[Watermom]

Why do you need to bring the pH up first before starting to add bleach? Unless there is some issue with your DE filter (that I know nothing about), you can add Borax and bleach at the same time.

[KirstenHW]

Really? That would be easier - I was basing it on Ben's sticky / item #2 for if pH is too low at opening: http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=190

Thx!

[aylad]

That sticky deals specifically with calcium and alkalinity changes, not for chlorine. The only reason I could see to wait until your pH is all the way up into recommended ranges is that pH tends to measure falsely high when chlorine is above 10 ppm or so. So if your pH is a LITTLE low and you can safely get it into your target range with a small addition of Borax, then go ahead and do that, then start shocking with chlorine. However, if your pH is 6.8 or lower (and 6.8 is the lowest that most testers will read, so if it's reading 6.8, then it may actually be much lower) and you anticipate LOTS of Borax to be added, then I would play it safe and get the pH up where you want it before you start shocking.

Janet