Pool Maintanence

[Yorkie]

We are close to buying our second house in France, we are retiring soon and will be moving permanantly in the near future.
Having read all about pools and the work needed to keep every thing working I have a question.What will happen when we are not there to carry out the daily checks etc.
We will have the house in July but it will be the end of the year before we can move over so apart from a week here and there the pool will not be in use.
Do I have to do anything special to leave it ? Do I need to leave the filter running to keep the water fresh ?
As you can see I am not experienced with pools at all , in fact we where not looking for a house with pool it just happened.
The pool is 12x5 m with a sliding plastic cover and it will not be used when we are not there.
Help please.

Yorkie

[Baz]

LAST EDITED ON 25-May-04 AT 10:00 AM (BST)

Yorkie,
Good luck with your property and pool. I think the best answer to your question is to look at this site and firstly look at the question "Advice to new pool owners"
http://www.ishop.co.uk/ishop/691/shopscr4.html

The good news is that a weekly check and not a daily check is required, but leaving the pool for longer lengths unattended will leave to difficuties. I learned about pools by watching the experts open and close my pool and their tips. The pump does not need to run continualy when unattended but if set daily for 6-8 hours will be enough, but a weekly check and adding chemicals if necessary is essential.

It may be adviseable until you are permently in your property to seek the services of a pool company to weekly service it. If a pool goes green it can be nightmare to correct and costly in chemicals. I hope this give you a better insight of what is required.

Baz