Best handheld manual vacuum for dirt/silt

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GenericHbomb

Well-known member
Oct 3, 2015
82
Rochester, NY
My goal this year is to keep the pool as warm as possible as it's an area ive struggled in the past year. Invested in a solar cover and reel already.


The next major loss of heat for me is vacuuming to waste/backwashing and having to refill the pool with cold water.


I have an older pool with only one jet and one return so I get a decent amount of settling.


Looking for a good manual vacuum that will catch and hold fine debris like dead algae and dirt/pollen.


Any recommendations? I want to avoid vacuuming to waste and minimize back washing needs this year to conserve warm water in the pool.


Browsed review on a number of vacuums but I trust you guys more than amazon reviews.
 
Are you against a robot? Those would be the ideal cleaner in your situation- no water loss, no cold water replacement and they clean far, far better than old style vacuums.
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Maddie :flower:
 
It's a little more than was looking to spend but if it is truly superior it may be the route for me to go.

The one question I have, not sure if you would know, is since I have an older pool, the bottom, while not anything crazy is a little bumpy in areas in the deep end with small dips and bumps here in there from the sand under the pool vinyl.

Will that trip up the pool robot or should it be fine?
 
I've never heard of anyone saying its a problem?

The basic hand held (pole held, lol) PoolBlaster Max is a very good little vacuum. We used ours almost exclusively until we got the robot. Check it out.

Maddie :flower:
 
I love my PoolBlaster Max. I’m on my third one. The design has improved with each one. (The price has gone up also). I use it every single day to clean the bottom of my pool before I get in. I use a robot for the big leaves in the spring and in the fall. I use the pool blaster for lighter debris—silt, spiders. I ordered a “fine silt” bag that seems to filter better than the one that comes with.
 
Why do you vacuum to waste? And how often do you need to backwash? I just vacuum through my filter, and maybe twice a year I have to clean it and replace the cellulose. (DE replacement) I'm just curious how you get so much dust. Are you next to the rodeo grounds? Or could you possibly have a continuous low-level algae bloom that loads up the filter frequently? Enquiring minds want to know. ?
 
Richard320 said:
Why do you vacuum to waste? And how often do you need to backwash? I just vacuum through my filter, and maybe twice a year I have to clean it and replace the cellulose. (DE replacement) I'm just curious how you get so much dust. Are you next to the rodeo grounds? Or could you possibly have a continuous low-level algae bloom that loads up the filter frequently? Enquiring minds want to know. ?
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Are there issues with the sand filter not being able to catch dead algae? I only ask because last year I found it would slowly return to the level it looks like now. Over the course of a few weeks.

I think it might be partly my fault as I think I wasnt rinsing the filter long enough after back washing.
 
GenericHbomb said:
Are there issues with the sand filter not being able to catch dead algae? I only ask because last year I found it would slowly return to the level it looks like now. Over the course of a few weeks.

I think it might be partly my fault as I think I wasnt rinsing the filter long enough after back washing.
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Sand filters work fine unless they get channeled. I think raising the FC for a few days would do you more good than cleaning the filter.
 
I'll do a full test tonight for FC, CC, CYA, TA and PH and do an overnight free chlorine loss test as well.

I'll bump back up SLAM level regardless tomorrow for a little oomph and go from there.

Dont want to go too high due to weekend festivities so may not be able to blast the pool with chlorine till next week.

I'll do the above and post back based on what I find.
 
Richard320 said:
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Okay so here is where I am. Bumped my FC for a few days and happy with overnight test.

Vacuumed the pool last night and came out this morning to a similar view, though not as bad. So I grabbed some skimmer socks and vacuumed again. The good news is it appears to be dirt/silt. The bad news is I dont why I get so much.

Im thinking my only hope is to get a robot at this point. What do you guys think?
 

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