It's all about Swimming Pools and Your Swimming Pool Vacuum

Inground Swimming Pool Vacuums - (the one piece of swimming pool equipment you can't live without

Having an inground swimming pool can be both your greatest pleasure and your greatest pain. The pleasures are obvious: swimming splashing, sliding, playing with the kids, pool parties... but the pain, this is the back-breaking drudgery of keeping the swimming pool clean. You need to keep the chemicals fresh and in perfect concentrations, you need to keep the filters clean and the pool dirt free. And it's this "dirt-free" task that is the worst! This means (ugh) vacuuming the pool!

If you in the process of getting a inground swimming pool, and have not yet had the pleasure of vacuuming, then let me briefly explain what this entails. You probably know that there is an intake on the side of the pool which "skims" the debris from the surface (bugs, leaves and such) and catches it in a strainer (filter) of sorts. This skimmer is able to draw debris into its (filter) basket by sucking the water in and down through the basket where it catches this junk. Now clearly, this isn't doing any good for the dirt that inevitably gets into the pool and sits on the pool floor, so this is why you must vacuum.

To manually vacuum the pool, you will take advantage of the skimmer's sucking by connecting a vacuum hose into this hole. So, picture if you will, a very long "bendy" hose, 2" to 3" in diameter that has a vacuum head on one end and a connector on the other. You will first need to take this hose and submerge it to get out all the air. (This is sooo critical because sucking air up into the pump is B-A-D.) Then, keeping the hose under water, - and recognize that you are now on your stomach with your arms in the pool - you will feed the connector end of the hose into the skimmer and connect it into the hole. Congratulations! You can now manually vacuum the pool.

So, get up, shake your arms dry, and begin p-u-l-l-i-n-g and p-u-s-h-i-n-g the vacuum over every inch of the pool. Also, don't forget to brush off the pool walls as dirt does stick there and you need to get it fall so you can vacuum it up. And then, an hour or so later, if your arms don't feel like they are going to fall off, you can go swimming!

Now, I ask you. Is that anyway to enjoy your spiffy inground swimming pool? My vote says "No."

But you can take a big sigh of relief when I tell you that you don't have to do this! There is a better way! Instead of a manual swimming pool vacuum, you can use an automatic swimming pool vacuum. These little gadgets are life-savers! Let me explain.

These vacuums are designed to hook into your pool in various ways (I'll explain those in just a minute) and automatically travel around your pool sucking up dirt. They are designed to take a random path, and by virtue of their randomness make its way around the entire pool to clean it. They can even travel up the walls and over steps, to get the job done right.

If you were going to categorize the different type of automatic swimming pool vacuums, you would probably break them down into three basic categories. And these would be suction, pressure, and robotic.

Suction side pool vacuums:

You could view these as an automated version of the exact steps you would take if you were manually vacuuming the pool. In other words, it hooks into the draw from your pump causing water and the dirt to pull into your filtration system. In essence, it is acting like a moving drain as the suction causes it to move about the pool, sucking up dirt and water, which actually causes you to turn more water over a short period of time.

Some suction side models have the ability to climb the walls (yeah, cuts down on that brushing) and "scrub" your pools walls by agitating as it moves along. And these types of vacuums tend to remove much finer particles, as the dirt is going into your primary filtration system instead of a debris bag. Plus, there isn't any need to install additional pumps or plumbing so these vacuums tend to be slightly cheaper. Overall, if you don't have to remove a lot of large debris from your pool, and it's the finer particulates that are troublesome, then this might be a good vacuum for you.

Drawbacks of a suction side vacuum stem from the need to remove a lot of larger debris. Remember that this vacuum sucks the debris and dirt straight into your pump basket and filter, so if there is a lot of large debris, you need to constantly clean these out. The only way to prevent this would be to buy a separate leaf trap to capture the leaves before they go into your basket. Also, if you don't keep the filter clean, you will dramatically affect your suction power, so your ability to keep your pool clean will suffer.

Pressure side vacuums:

Where the suction side vacuum uses the suction of the intake, a pressure side vacuum uses the pressure from a pool jet. All that water which is sucked through the pump and filtration system, is forced back into the pool through its jets. And one of these jets will provide the energy to drive your pressure side vacuum. (Note that it is possible to use a dedicated booster pump instead of your primary pump.)

So, it is the pressure from the jet, which causes the vacuum to move and suck up dirt, and then trapping this dirt in a debris bag fixed onto the vacuum. Because it carries its own debris bag, you won't have the risk of clogging your pump basket with large debris, so you don't need to clean it out as often. This type of vacuum is probably the better way to go if your swimming pool is near a lot of trees.

The drawbacks of the pressure side pump is what makes the suction side pump so attractive. Because it is using a debris bag, you will not pick up the fine particulates in the pool.

Robotic:

Of all the models, the robotic probably have the most variance. They travel under their own power, in other words are not reliant upon your pool pump, and can be corded or cordless, automatic cycles to timed cycles, and some even have a remote control. They have their own filtration system and can clean the pool from rim to rim. Some will make claims that they can clean a fifty foot pool in one hour's time, and as you can imagine, they are the most expensive of the different type of vacuums.

The only drawback that comes to mind is the price. If you go for a robotic, I would go for all the bells and whistles, even though it would be pricey.

So, you see, there are a variety of ways to solve your inground swimming pool vacuuming problems, but also realize that some of these are also available for above ground swimming pools. And, when you go out shopping for these, do take notice to ensure that your vacuum of choice is suitable for your type of pool. Many vacuums can handle all types of pools (gunite pool, vinyl pool and fiberglass pools) but some are very specific.

Well, that about it. There certainly seems to be a lot of decisions and choices to make as a pool owner, but if you already have your pool, then you've made it through the hard part. If you are looking to have a pool built, then you need to do due diligence to ensure you find a trustworthy pool builder. The extra effort taken to find that "special" pool builder will be well worth your weight in gold! If you are in the process of trying to put it all together, you should consider reading up on the process here with Finding a Reliable Swimming Pool Builder, a composite of information designed to taking the sting out of trying to find an inground swimming pool builder, and to help you avoid the "pool sharks."

And investing wisely in your swimming pool equipment will keep the "Fun in the Sun."

RE: Swimming Pool Vacuums

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