PoolSkim is great!

[NWMNMom]

Oh good question. Our cover is on all the time too when not swimming and then when we pull it off, we spend time skimming before swimming. With the current great Junebug migration to my pool (they seem to crawl UNDER the edge of the cover and sit there) and the crap dropping from trees, it would be nice NOT to have to hand skim each time I take that cover off.

[ChuckD]

Oh good question. Our cover is on all the time too when not swimming and then when we pull it off, we spend time skimming before swimming. With the current great Junebug migration to my pool (they seem to crawl UNDER the edge of the cover and sit there) and the crap dropping from trees, it would be nice NOT to have to hand skim each time I take that cover off.

I wondered about that as well. I'm betting you can leave it connected, but it won't do anything. The cover sits on the surface, which means stuff trapped there will stay there until the cover's removed. The skimmer relies on movement on the surface which won't be happening.

I'm guessing you'd remove the cover and go away for a while, or do your tests or something, and let the thing do it's bit.

[NWMNMom]

Were you thinking of ordering one? You know this is really very similar to the over the wall "hanging" skimmers they sell with those soft side pools from Intex - except it doesn't have a bag, the Intex one has a hard basket like a skimmer and of course it hooks to suction rather than return, but.... We had one of those years ago and bet its still in the grain bin we use to store our stuff. With a few mods, I could probably get this to do the same thing as the Poolskim.....hmmmmm. I'm too lazy to want to hand skim, but still have enough ambition to find a way to get something else to do the work for me!

[ChuckD]

I think I will.
I've got an IG liner, with a poorly placed built-in skimmer.

[NWMNMom]

Let me know how it goes. Lazy as I am, its always easy to "click" an item into a shopping basket online. My son just told me that the tree pollen (fluffy cotton variety) is flying like crazy so he was going to swim but decided to leave the cover on until I got home to hand dip all the Junebugs out AND catch the cotton before it hits the main skimmer. Ugh!

[ChuckD]

Let me know how it goes. Lazy as I am, its always easy to "click" an item into a shopping basket online. My son just told me that the tree pollen (fluffy cotton variety) is flying like crazy so he was going to swim but decided to leave the cover on until I got home to hand dip all the Junebugs out AND catch the cotton before it hits the main skimmer. Ugh!

Just ordered mine. It'll be a couple weeks before I can report on it's performance but I promise I will.

[ryguy]

I have to concur with everyone on this device. It really is great. I bought mine 1 year ago and have been totally pleased with it. It works better than I even imagined. Sure, not everyone would need this thing, but if you've spent countless days wondering what you could do to keep your pool surface cleaner, then this may be the inexpensive answer to your problems. My pool was built in the 1950's and even though it has been totally renovated recently, it still has only the (one) original skimmer. It's never been enough to keep the pool surface clean. I have 1.5" pvc piping, so maybe those using 2" piping or multiple skimmers don't have problems. Also, the way my pool renovater installed the new skimmer, it has probably less than 2" of "ideal water level" to pull stuff effectively off the surface. I considered the "pool skimmer lever/stick" that they sell, but wasn't so sure it would do anything. I also considered replacing my Polaris with a Hayward Phantom, which rises to the surface to skim also, but it's very expensive. So I thought I'd start with the PoolSkim first, then see if I needed anything else.

Well, it was an easy install and the darn thing works! Don't really have to worry about it breaking because there are so few parts and it's a very simple design. A few of you asked about using it with a solar cover. Yes, you can do that. I've done it every day for a year now. It doesn't hurt the Poolskim or the solar cover. However, it won't effectively do anything when the cover is on. Who cares though? Nothings getting in with the cover in place anyway. So when the cover is one, it's simply acts as a pool return jet only, until the cover is removed.

There is only one negative that I can think of to the device. It doesn't bother me, but could be a concern for others. If you have younger kids swimming a lot, they'll probably knock it off over and over again. Just put it back on when they're out. Could get tiring I suppose, but I rarely have kids swimming in my pool (but when they do, they always seem to knock it off). It protrudes into the pool about 8-10". I have mine in the shallow end, so I'm sure if I moved it to the deep end, that would be less of a problem.

My Polaris rarely ever gets tangled in the PoolSkim either, so that hasn't been an issue. The bag that comes with it is durable and large enough that I don't have to empty it daily. I empty it maybe once a week at most, and far less during the summer. It will automatically adjust to varying pool levels up to a few inches (as much as you'd ever need). This thing has much stronger suction than my regular skimmer, so it is very quick to clear the surface. Typically, when I pull the solar cover off during spring or fall, all the pollen and seedlings and junk fall off the cover onto the surface. The poolskim will suck it all up pretty quickly, however, if I want to swim right away, I just use pole skimmer to move the debris toward the Poolskim. Once it gets close it is sucked up immediately and it's pretty much clear in 2-3 minutes using that method. If you've ever wished for a cleaner surface, do yourself a favor and try this thing out. I ordered mine directly from the manufacturer and it was received in less than a week from ordering. They were very good to deal with. Can't praise this thing enough. It has saved me so much time over the past year, and the pool is ALWAYS clear when I look out on it any time of day.