So How Do I Tackle This Issue..

[LivinLOS]

OK so the story is my pool guy had got complacent.. Wasnt doing the bare minimum and after way too long of him shirking it and the water being poor.. When I (friendly, nicely, no big scene) brought up the issue that its been weeks since he had it clear and right he literally just downed tools and walked off. Goodbye.

So now I pay attention theres a whole bunch of things hes let get way out.. Leaks in the poolroom.. Pump basket full of leaves.. chems nearly non existent in the water.. Seems he pretty much quit a month or two back and was just bare min turning up. I really should have been more on top of it but thought thats what I was paying him for. I have had a couple of pools, and understand the basic function, but am by no means an expert.

Now recent local flooding and heavy rains, and a lack of a good border around the pool means garden runoff probably was what caused some suspended particles.. I know in the past he has used alum, but I have left it not circulating and think I have 90% settled.. I might just try to vacuum carefully and see how it goes.

Thats the back ground, heres my issue.. The pump on this is high power, its a big pool 18x6 or more at a guess and >2m deep at one end, so it has a big pump that really shifts water. If I run the vacuum alone It is way to strong, literally pulling the floor cleaner to the tiles. I need to run the vacuum in combo with the overflow tank (or sump) and it works very strong still.

Now if I have really dirty crud on the pool bottom, more than just usual 'cleaning' I really should push that to waste rather than filth up the sand filter ?? But if I flush the pump to waste it is pushing 100's of liters of water out, I mean cubes of water in very short order.

So how do I carefully, slowly, clean out real dirty waste, or alum contaminated water, which will probably take an hour or two. Without needing a couple of water trucks worth of replacement in that hours 'flush to waste' cycle ?? If I was to do a real tidy slow proper job on the vacuum, I am going to put 10's of cubes of water out the flush.

How do I get around that ??? Its got me stumped.

[fdimike]

Livin

Here's what I would do. Buy a "floor cleaner" (vacuum head) on wheels. This will prevent the cleaning head from being sucked against the tiles like you describe. I would then vacuum normally and backwash the sand filter as needed. I see no need to remove the crud with the water from the pool. Just vacuum and backwash your sand filter as needed.

[LivinLOS]

Mine does have wheels.. But the pressure literally bends the plastic.. It might however be a low quality item. I was also a little concerned that it was making the pump work really hard to pull against the light water flow.

Is that 'safe' to do with alum as a flocculent also ?? Because I know the pool guy used alum a while back, and the same approx time as this I had a massive water bill, and putting 2 and 2 together assume he flushed it.

I have never used flocculents before so am unfamiliar in their use and if they must be pushed to waste.

Thanks for the help BTW.

[fdimike]

What size (HP) pump are you using? I have a very large pool here in Udon Thani and am using 2 Hayward DE filters with two 1.5HP pumps. I vacuum with only one filter while the other is running normally.

I can't imagine why a vacuum head would bend like you describe. Can you physically bend the head in your hands? Are there any wheels missing?

[fdimike]

Oops forgot to add that you can go ahead and safely vacuum up the floculant. Just back wash the filter as necessary.

[LivinLOS]

What size (HP) pump are you using? I have a very large pool here in Udon Thani and am using 2 Hayward DE filters with two 1.5HP pumps. I vacuum with only one filter while the other is running normally.

I can't imagine why a vacuum head would bend like you describe. Can you physically bend the head in your hands? Are there any wheels missing?

Yes you can bend the plastic.. Its a bit 'flimsy'.. And your also correct, in that it has a wheel missing. I will get a replacement, the whole set of issues has sort of landed on me in last 24 hours.

Good news the flocculent can be put to the filter.. I can see a process of cleaning, backwashing, cleaning in stages can accomplish what I want, without too much water waste then.

Again, thanks for this input, its great to get the guidance. Given my hassles with trusting a pool guy, I might just take the work of this on myself now, at least I will know its done right and have that peace of mind. Plus learn a bit more in the process.

[monsieurhappy]

In the past when I have used "sang song" (spl) flocculent, I have vacuumed to "waste" for the heavy stuff and then changed back to filtration to finish off. Never really used that much water.

Some companies around here (Pattaya) have portable filtration pumps and hire them out for days at a time. I have not seen one used with a hose etc. but one or two days use seems to clear the pool and doesn't clog your filter.They've even used one at our big pool in the village which is bigger than yours.

I think you've got to use a combination, vacuum the big patches of crud which at the same time will leave the rest in suspension then leave the filter on for a couple of days nonstop.

[LivinLOS]

Yeah it was partly a theoretical as faced with so much gunk and my instinct to put it to waste was just blown away by how much water was flushing out.

Right now (due to a pump issue) its not cycling and the sediment has settled.. It will all work out..

[WarpSpeed]

Mine does have wheels.. But the pressure literally bends the plastic.. It might however be a low quality item. I was also a little concerned that it was making the pump work really hard to pull against the light water flow.

Is that 'safe' to do with alum as a flocculent also ?? Because I know the pool guy used alum a while back, and the same approx time as this I had a massive water bill, and putting 2 and 2 together assume he flushed it.

I have never used flocculents before so am unfamiliar in their use and if they must be pushed to waste.

Thanks for the help BTW.

Two things.

The wheels are usually adjustable and may not be set low enough, they have elongated mounts for that reason. Pushing them down pushes the vac head up away from the bottom, usually a screw driver and a mm or 2 is all that's required.

Secondly if that doesn't work or isn't possible simply adjust the suction valve not to suck on the vacuum line so hard send some suction to another source, skimmer line, main drain line whatever..

Personally I adjust the wheels to allow as much vacuum as possible without having to reduce it but still reduce if necessary..

Edited September 17, 2011 by WarpSpeed