Q. How
often do I need to vacuum my pool?
A.
Vacuuming should be done as often as you think.
Normally, once a week is sufficient. Generally speaking, the more a pool is
used the less vacuuming it needs. It's pretty simple. Many pool
owners enjoy vacuuming on a nice sunny summer morning . Many of our
customers use a good
automatic pool cleaner to do this work for them. Even so, a good manual
vacuum is good once a month.
Inground or
Aboveground Pools:
-
If your pool is
equipped, be sure that the valve on the suction line coming into the pump
is selected for the port (either skimmer or lower suction fitting) you
will be using to vacuum.
-
Attach the vacuum hose to the
vacuum head (the piece with the brushes or wheels on it). The better
quality vac hoses come with a swivel end to prevent tangling of the hose.
Be sure that this is the end that is attached to the vac head; if not the
system will draw air & not work properly.
-
Make sure the hose is secure
and the vac head is firmly attached to the pole.
-
Place the vac head, hose &
pole into the deep end of the pool (make sure one end of the pole is
sticking out of the water!)
-
Take the UN-attached end of
the vac hose & hold it in front of one of the water return fittings. This
will fill the hose with water & prevent binding of the pump with air. You
know you've got enough water in the hose when the vacuum head bubbles up
to the top.
-
Put your hand over the end of
the hose to keep the water IN.
-
Place the skimmer basket
adapter on top of the skimmer basket. Always use a basket to prevent the
possible suction of a large object from getting stuck in the skimmer or in
the underground line.
-
If vacuuming through a lower
suction without a basket, use a leaf trap.
-
After you have placed the
hose on the adapter fitting you will probably notice a sudden drop in
filter activity. This is normal. The filter system is just readjusting
itself to the change in suction. Let it operate for about 30 to 90
seconds. It should automatically bleed any air out of its system and
return to normal operation. You'll hear the sound becoming "normal"
again.
-
Vacuum away!
Troubleshooting
No
suction. Either the hose has come off of the basket, the filter
has lost its prime (not sucking water) or the hose a leak (make sure you've
got the proper end of the hose on the vac head). If you have more than one
suction line, be sure you're drawing from the proper one.
Dirty
water returning to the pool. If you have a sand filter, DO
NOT BACKWASH THE FILTER BEFORE VACUUMING. Backwashing stirs up the sand
& prevents good trapping of dirt for several HOURS. In cartridge or DE
filters, this rarely happens.
I
vacuum for a few minutes & then it doesn't work anymore. How
dirty is the pool? If it's REALLY dirty, you may be better off vacuuming to
direct waste (sand filter) or otherwise vacuuming directly out of the pool
by-passing the filter.
Information used by permission.
|
