Tips and Tricks

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I've seen folks lament every now and then that there isn't a better way to keep the vacuum hose from being wound up in the water, twisting and fighting the vacuum or even kinking up.
Here's what I do:

1) Before putting the hose in the water, lay the empty coil on the ground next to the pool.
2) Step one foot directly into the center of the coil.
3) Take a free end of the hose and begin feeding it into the pool.
4) Allow the remaining hose to naturally unwind itself from around your planted leg.

Now that the hose is nicely unwound and free of kinks and coils, proceed to hook up the vacuum head & pole, take an end over the return jet to fill it with water, and then over to the skimmer to connect to the adapter plate.

One less annoyance.

Happy swimming!
 
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My grandkids love the blow up pool toys/floats. I usually use use a compressor to blow them up, but when the season is over and it's time to deflate them, the built in check valves make deflation difficult and slow. Today I tried something and it worked so well. I insert a small screwdriver into the inflation valve to hold the check valve open, then I used a shop-vac to suck the air out. That reduced deflation time drastically.
 
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While this thread used to be active, but seems dead now... I stumbled across this and have needed this solution in the past.

People seem to crack the threads on salt cell unions, and they are fairly fragile imo. Sure, if you periodically replace the old, flattened union o-rings and lube them up (not many do this) you don't need to torque on the union ring very hard to get a good seal, but some pvc union rings do crack with age and if they do you have a leaky mess.

Apparently these split union replacement rings work, although I have not personally tried one yet. Cut off the broken ring and use this without any major surgery on the plumbing and you are back in business.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07J9QQDSS

Magic Plastics Salt Cell 2" Split Union Replacement​

 
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TriangleMan said:
I've seen folks lament every now and then that there isn't a better way to keep the vacuum hose from being wound up in the water, twisting and fighting the vacuum or even kinking up.
Here's what I do:

1) Before putting the hose in the water, lay the empty coil on the ground next to the pool.
2) Step one foot directly into the center of the coil.
3) Take a free end of the hose and begin feeding it into the pool.
4) Allow the remaining hose to naturally unwind itself from around your planted leg.

Now that the hose is nicely unwound and free of kinks and coils, proceed to hook up the vacuum head & pole, take an end over the return jet to fill it with water, and then over to the skimmer to connect to the adapter plate.

One less annoyance.

Happy swimming!
Click to expand...
I am using them, but it takes extra teflon plumbing tape and some putzing.
 
Maybe something like this is somewhere in the thread (still reading page one) but I thought I'd post a tip I have done.

We only have one skimmer, and use one of those vacuums (some version of the kreepy krawly) that hooks up to the skimmer. I stopped using the attachment that goes directly to the skimmer throat most of the time because I wanted to catch stuff in the basket rather than send it all the way to the filter.

But I also wanted a little bit of skimming action, too.

So I drilled one hole in the round dome thing that covers the whole skimmer basket, and the hose attaches to. It's just enough to create a little suction so some leaves get drawn in even when it is capped and vacuuming. Sometimes leaves will get sucked through that little hole. Occasionally they'll block it, but I figure that isn't a big deal, since it then simply becomes like I hadn't drilled the hole at all.
 
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One more for now.

I had a roll of the chain link fence privacy screen fabric laying around. So I tacked a length of it to the underside of a fence railing where the pool cover roller goes. Roll up the solar cover, and scoot the whole roll to the fence. Just drape that fabric over the cover, and it is protected from the sun!

Here's the only pic I have of that setup already uploaded. I was trying to show the newer deck arrangement, so it is just sort of in the background along the fence.

20230513_091019.jpg

20230513_091019.jpg

 
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drsipe said:
My grandkids love the blow up pool toys/floats. I usually use use a compressor to blow them up, but when the season is over and it's time to deflate them, the built in check valves make deflation difficult and slow. Today I tried something and it worked so well. I insert a small screwdriver into the inflation valve to hold the check valve open, then I used a shop-vac to suck the air out. That reduced deflation time drastically.
Click to expand...
The back wall of my garage is one side of our pool area.

So when I set up my air compressor, I ran a line to an easy to access spot in the pool area, and installed an external air compressor hose bib. Now blowing up floaties is quick and easy!
 
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superdave5599 said:
The back wall of my garage is one side of our pool area.

So when I set up my air compressor, I ran a line to an easy to access spot in the pool area, and installed an external air compressor hose bib. Now blowing up floaties is quick and easy!
Click to expand...
Ugh, I'm trying to reduce my to-do list. Now I have to have one of these. Thanks a lot, pal! 😡
 
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superdave5599 said:
The back wall of my garage is one side of our pool area.

So when I set up my air compressor, I ran a line to an easy to access spot in the pool area, and installed an external air compressor hose bib. Now blowing up floaties is quick and easy!
Click to expand...
I think I've seen compressor lines run in 1/2" copper. And I have a slew of flexible rubber(?) hoses for my compressor. But I wouldn't want to run either through my attic (which is the only way to get to the pool area).

Is there something like PEX for air lines?

Can you run something like this through an attic (with blown-in insulation)?
 

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Dirk said:
I think I've seen compressor lines run in 1/2" copper. And I have a slew of flexible rubber(?) hoses for my compressor. But I wouldn't want to run either through my attic (which is the only way to get to the pool area).

Is there something like PEX for air lines?

Can you run something like this through an attic (with blown-in insulation)?
Click to expand...
After looking at all sorts of options for specialty air lines and such, I ended up cutting up an old hose and running that to the places I wanted air, utilizing joiners and fittings I found at Menards (besides the hose hookup block that is screwed to the wall outside, which I found probably on Amazon).

My 50 gallon compressor is sitting in my attic, with the main line coming down to the retractable hose reel in the garage, and also the drain hose going down in the garage. I just T-ed into one of those hoses for this one.
 
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