Best Way to Get Rid of Leaves?

[jcjr2018]

Hi Everyone. I'm a newbie and have just taken over the care of our pool from a maintenance company that had been handling. I'm a little overwhelmed with it all...trying to learn the chemical side now as our pool is green.
Our pool is approximately a 30,000 gallon kidney shaped pool and has a Pentair Legend pressure side cleaner. During the fall and winter months, thousands of leaves will fall in the pool, the worst of which are huge and fall from a Sycamore. Many of these will fall to the bottom of the pool before we are able to remove with a net. Is there a vacuum of some sort that is recommended or some other method I am not thinking of for removing the leaves? Would it be beneficial to us to replace the Pentair Legend with something else? I appreciate any advice and/or recommendations!

 

[Divin Dave]

A good net and a quality pole is the ticket.

There arent any pool cleaners, vacuums or any other contraption that is good at removing lots of leaves.
If you have children, then it will be easier for you if you make them do it. Maybe. On second thought............

 

[Richard320]

If all you have so far is a flat skimmer, get a leaf rake for your pole. Has an edge that you drag across the pool floor, like a rake, and it can pick up a whole bunch of leaves.

Secondly, perhaps a cheap suction vacuum with a leaf canister inline.

I've also been known to attack shedding trees with the pole end of a rake, to loosen and knock down leaves a day or two early, thuis allowing ne to get ahead of the cleanup a little. Kids could handle that.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

I like using a "leaf bagger" for the times I get lots of leaves. It basically attaches to a pole and hooks up to a garden hose. The water pressure creates a suction that forces leaves up into the bag. The bag actually holds more debris than you'd think. Here's a video of a leaf bagger in action.

Blue Devil Leaf Bagger/Leaf Catcher-How To Use - YouTube

 

[jcjr2018]

Thanks guys! I just realized that I have two "leaf vacuums." One is 13 years old and one is 9....I think that will work out great! If not, we have the leaf bagger that hooks to a garden hose we can test out, but just need to get some bags. Thanks for the help!

- - - Updated - - -

One last question since I really know nothing about the pool and equipment. When we bought this house, the pool came with the Pentair Legend pressure side pool cleaner. Is there any advantage to any of the other type of pool cleaners? Thanks!

 

[Flatag]

The best way to handle leaves is to run your filter and allow the skimmer to collect the leaves before they sink. I have a #$%^* gum tree close to my pool and it drop leaves this time of year like crazy. I clean out my skimmer a couple times a day when the leaves are dropping. Only a few reach the bottom.

 

[Silverdart]

I'm new to taking care of our pool too, and it sounds like we are dealing with similar issues. I managed to get our pool clear twice this summer (it got green again while we were on vacation and the person who was supposed to check it didn't.)

We have a leaf net that goes over our pool - I need to get it out soon, as we have oak trees that hang over, and they're starting to drop leaves. They drop both leaves and acorns (and the squirrels like throwing the acorns at my husband, who yells at them).

When the pool gets closed, the leaf net gets dumped out. Then, it goes over the big pool tarp. That way, it captures all the leaves from the late fall and over the winter (oak trees seem to hang onto their leaves for the longest time before giving them up). In the spring, the leaf net gets dumped out again. Works really well.

For leaves in the summer, we have one of those oval skimmer nets with a lip - we drag that across the bottom to remove the leaves and acorns before we vacuum. I'm now looking for a robot vacuum that can mulch up leaves, because it's a heavy job.

 

[Njaneer]

If you use a pressure cleaner and let it run daily during the fall, you will have less leaves to pick up in bulk, you'd be surprised how well a Polaris 3900 does with leaves, you can pack plenty in the bag. The trick is not cleaning your pool once a week to keep up with it.

 

[Njaneer]

Totally forgot a product we make, Jandy Leaf Master, thing is it connects to a garden hose not a booster pump, but it can be rigged I have seen it done before.

https://www.jandy.com/en/products/accessories/leaf-master

 

[Backyard_Lap_Pool]

The Solar breeze + skimmers keeps about 95% of leaves off the bottom of our pool. You do have to empty it more often in the fall but it’s a pretty simple 1 minute task when you get home.

Floating Pool Skimmer | Robotic Cleaner Solar Breeze NX2