I have seen the light.. err leaf rake

[AnnaK]

Don't throw away the flat skimmer yet.

While it isn't really suitable for scooping leaves off the bottom of the pool, it is hugely useful for skimming the water surface to pick up anything that floats: yellow pollen, birch tree bracts, cottony pollens, dandelion tufts, etc. IOW, everything that will get caught in your skimmer or skimmer sock and make a gooey mess can be skimmed off the surface with the flat net.

My leaf rake is like Janet's, with the squeegie on the edge. I've learned that if I prod the leaves just a tiny bit, just enough to create a little water pressure, they swirl up a couple of inches and are easy to catch with the net bag. I have another leaf rake with a brush rather than the squeegie and don't like it. For the brush to be effective you have to push a little harder and that displaces the leaves too much to catch them easily in the bag.

Hurry summer!

[star21fish]

lol.....wish I had read this earlier. We also dipped out a ton of leaves with the top skimmer net before we discovered the leaf rake. I couldn't even see my bottom, but by the time I could, I had most the leaves out. My hubby was ready to choke me with the skimmer net : )

[PoolDoc]

Would it be helpful to a bunch of people if I put together photos and videos of how to clean / brush / vacuum / backwash a pool?

I now, thanks to EPB Fiber (30Mb month up/down no bandwidth limit), no longer have to worry about how much bandwidth photos and even videos eat up. (However, I'll probably post the videos on YouTube).

. . . just wondering.

Ben

[Watermom]

I think, with the number of new members we have added recently, that this would probably be a helpful thing for many people new to pool ownership.

[AnnaK]

Yes, especially the details of vacuuming both an above-ground and an in-ground pool.