How to have ‘Happy Water’

There are 3 things we can do to try to keep our pool water happy. The first is to vacuum the pool. In my eyes, this is the worst of the bunch! To that end, I try and be lazy about it. I mean, who wants to work a full week then come home to work some more, am I right? Because of this, I own a robotic vacuum for my pool. Toss it in, push a button and the pool gets clean but it doesn’t do the whole pool. It misses spots or moves stuff rather than pick it up etc. That means the ‘old fashioned’ vacuum has to come into play. If you prefer to watch, I have a video posted. ( https://youtu.be/08uxlxt-3Co?si=UHrGS… ) To properly use the manual vacuum you need to get set up right. The vacuum head on your extendable pole, the vacuum hose installed on the vacuum head (one end of the hose has a swivel so that goes on the vac head) and the vacuum adapter plate on the other end of the hose. Simple set up. STOP!!! Wait, what? Don’t know what the adapter plate is? I’m not surprised as many don’t know or don’t use it. This simple piece of equipment looks a bit like a funnel, attaches on the vacuum hose and goes directly on top of the skimmer basket. I see people remove the basket and plug directly into the port and although this works, you have removed the first line of defense for your pump. That said, lets go through the steps to get set up properly. First, remove the skimmer basket and if the second port in the bottom of the skimmer is active (goes to the bottom drain etc) there should be a little cover plate screwed into the skimmer. Rotate that to block the bottom drain port then put the skimmer basket back in. Next, with the vacuum head – hose – adapter plate set up, put the vacuum head into the pool (I stay beside the skimmer for this). It will sink to the bottom. Since our pump is designed to move water and not air, we have to load the hose before we attach it to the pool. To do this, feed the vacuum hose straight down into the water, hand over hand, until you reach the adapter plate. If this is done right, water will shoot out of the plate. Simply place the plate on the skimmer basket and you’re set! A different way to load the hose is to place the end over the return jet to pump water in. My issue with this method is that the returns are nowhere near the skimmer so you now have to run around the deck with the loaded hose to install it in the skimmer. With your vacuum all set up, slowly and methodically vacuum the pool bottom. If you have a sand filter, it should be in the ‘FILTER’ position. It is not uncommon to start seeing debris coming out the return jet. If this happens, stop vacuuming, clean the basket and perform a backwash then you can return to vacuuming. Oops, I forgot! You will be working outside in the sun so make sure to have a cold beverage handy.

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