How often should you clean your pump basket?

How often do you clean out your strainer basket at your main pump(s)? I have a one pump set up. I am just starting my second season of pool ownership. Last year I didn't even look at it for the first two months. I opened the pool at the end of April this year and have already cleaned it twice. Both times it had a fair amount of bugs, grass and little pieces of plaster in it. I clean my skimmer baskets about every two days. I would like to see how often the experts recommend doing this.

Clean it when it's full of crap! Well, clean it when it looks clogged... mine doesn't fill up to the top, but the plastic is all gummed up.

Do you have a

vacuum

pool cleaner? You may need to clean it each time you run it... that stuff is going straight to the basket.

Robert

I've always figured if you want a clean pool you need clean filters. I clean everyday, unless there is nothing in there.

With pantyhose (or similar netting) over the main skimmer I never have to clean the filter in the pump housing.

I check all the baskets once a week but would suggest doing it more if you got a lot of vegitaion around the pool.

Thanks for the replies, folks. I guess the amount of vegetation you have close to the pool is a big factor here. I'm in a new development and we don't have any old, tall trees around.

As with most things associated with pools, common sense goes a long way.

I clean my skimmer basket nightly, when I pour the bleach in.

I clean my pump basket whenever I vacuum if there is a lot of organic material sucked up (like pill bugs). I figure if they're in the the basket, even if they aren't interfering with pump flow they are consuming chlorine, so I like to get them out.