What an interesting thread and applicable to many of us. Like Amy in Raleigh, we live out in the boonies and couldn't possibly ask anyone to come and care for the pool during our absence. My husband, also named Richard and also a chemist, likes Richard's scientific approach, of course. I like the strung up bleach bottles, an elegant and inventive fix.

Quote Originally Posted by tenax
i just got back from 8 days away with temps in the mid to high 20's everyday i was away.
That would be Centigrade, yes? Because if it's Farenheit you're keeping your pool open even longer than we do

Quote Originally Posted by tenax
pool was covered with a solar cover for the whole period, timer was set for 2 -6 hour cycles each day,my normal. what i did was dumped in a full jug of chlorine night before i left then 2 pucks that morning (big round ones)
Question about using the pucks in the floating dispenser with a solar pool cover. Our solar cover is also cut to fit the water surface. I liked the suggestion of tieing the floater to a string to keep it from touching the sides of the pool, but won't the solar cover prevent the floater from floating?

We're going to be gone for several days and we cannot leave the pump running, and we don't have a timer. Hence, either the floater or the suspended bleach bottles sound like a decent solution.