I'm not sure if this is a dumb question, but how do we use the vacuum on our pool

[peggles0224]

We never used one before ... Hope this isn't a dumb question. I think we are having trouble with water pressure. If someone can gives us a step by step, we will vaccum and then we can do our first test (with a test kit 5 way from walmart... yes we are listening ). There is definitely dirt.leaves on the bottom... Our water is not that clear... we can't see the bottom, but I think we have come a long way.

[Watermom]

What type of filter do you have?

[Poconos]

I assume you have a vacuum head and hose already. Typically the vacuum hose hooks into the skimmer line (pump suction side) somehow. This could be a dedicated port where you hook the hose and throw a valve, or a simpler kind where the hose fits onto a device that you lay in the skimmer and then the water is sucked through the hose instead of the skimmer opening to the pool. In either case, depending on the pump type as to whether it can prime easily, you may want to submerge the hose and fill it with water before connecting it. This eliminates an air bubble that could screw up priming.
Can you elaborate on what you have and also the water pressure issue?
Hope this helps.
Al

[ThePoolGuy]

Do you have a Krepy crawly type cleaner ( vaccum cleaner) or a Polaris type cleaner and what Filter do you have?

If you got a Krepy crawler, you can just plug your vacuum hose into it...this is nice for vacuuming up leaves since most people install the leaf catcher with their KC. If you got a Polaris type cleaner, you'll need to plug into a skimmer and probaly sink a hose. Also if you got two skimmers, you may want to cut the other skimmer off if you got a valve for it or use a tennis ball to plug it up with. You can also shut off the main drain to do this as well. This will help increase the suction. Now you may want to keep an eye on the pump basket if you're vaccuming up a lot of leaves without a leaf catcher. The pump basket will get clogged up...you should notice the suction slowing down when this happens. Just shut the pump off and empty the basket to continue vaccuming. You also have to keep an eye on the pressure...I usualy back wash a sand filter before I vaccum a pool. It all depends what the Pressure is on a DE as to wether or not I BW it before/after hand. I'm not sure on a cart since I never mess with them.

Once you get vaccuming, keep an eye as to not let the vaccum head surface to much or to long. This could cause the pump to loose prime. It's usualy when you're vaccuming the top step or have a Hottub connected to the pool but have to jump the wall to clean it. If it happens, just be cool, the pump should gain prime in a few secs.

Hope it helps.
ThePoolGuy

[peggles0224]

We couldn't understand why we had no suction... we put the hose in the skimmer, primed, but had not suction. We found a good size slice in our house, so we bought another. We'll be back at it tomorrow.

Now I went to walmart and bought a 5 or 6 way tester. It didn't come with instructions!!!!

"Add drops" on the individual bottles but do we have to shake up after adding?

There is a place to test yellow (CL and Br together) and Red to test PH. I have a green bottom that says alkalinity titrant and a white one that says cyanuric acid re agent. There is a empty clear squishy plastic bottle (says a measurement of a 7 and 14 lines on it. Also there is in a uncapped skinny skinny tube container that measures 30 to 100 that says c.a. view tube (PPM). Last but not least a fatter tube like container ... also has no cap that is about 4 times the sizes of the skinny one that measures 5ml to 25ml. Can someone save me a trip back to walmart