Does everyone vacuum their pools?

[Titanium]

We bought our house with the existing pool about 18 months ago. The previous owner gave precious little information on the pool except for the equipment manuals. All he had was a pole brush and a leaf net at the pool.

So we have never vacuumed our pool in all of the time we have been here. The combination of the skimmer, Polaris 380 cleaner, cartridge filter, and weekly (Ok, biweekly brushing) seems to keep the water clear and the bottom of the pool clear of debris.

Is there anyone out there, except for us, that NEVER vacuums their pool? I'm just wondering since so many of the posts here mention vacuuming as routine sort of thing.

The Polaris, while quirky, seems to grab most of the stuff off of the bottom. In fact, the Polaris even sucks out vagrant pool toys (torpedoes, toy cars, etc) that the boys inadvertently leave in the pool. In fact, we even find a fair amount of sand (from the plaster) when we clean out the net every 2-4 weeks.

Titanium

 

[JasonLion]

Vacuuming should be a routine thing with any pool. Fortunatly, the Polaris counts as vacuuming, so you are already vacuuming your pool reguarly.

 

[Titanium]

JasonLion,

Thanks for your reply.

So my Polaris cleaner still counts as vacuuming even though the vacuumed debris is collected in the Polaris net instead of being sent to the filter? I must admit that I am always surprised by how fine of material is caught in the Polaris net.

Just a side question. You seem to be very knowledgeable about pool chemistry, equipment and operation. Do you do this for a living, or is it a hobby? [And I don't mean to denigrate hobbyists. I know of several fields where talented and dedicated hobbyists routinely do better than the professionals in that field.]

Titanium

 

[JasonLion]

The point of vacuuming is to get things off the floor of the pool. It doesn't matter where the debris ends up as long as it isn't in the pool anymore.

I'm just a hobbyist having a good time. Given how much fun I am having, I keep thinking about trying to earn my living through something pool related eventually.

 

[Titanium]

JasonLion,

Being a talented hobbyist has lots of advantages:

- no payroll
- no pesky customers
- no unreliable and quirky subcontractors
- no distractions by things like employees, taxes, inventory, cash flow, accounting, etc.

Earning a living espousing the no-nonsense, low-cost methodology that is shown on this message board might make it a little tough to earn a living wage. Or maybe one could become a pool inspector for home buyers. Or maybe be a third-party pool inspector for homeowners during a pool build. Or maybe be a troubleshooting consultant for homeowners having equipment or operational issues.

One weak area of the pool builders seem to be their design methodology - if they even have one - for the pool hydraulics. IT seems to me that way too many pool builders seem to be relying on past practice and "rules of thumb" for the sizing of the pump, filter, piping, solar, etc. I would feel much more comfortable seeing some actual hydraulic design - especially the approach that mas985 takes. I wonder what homeowners would pay for a professional hydraulic design? $50? $200 $500? Or would most homeowners expect that cost to be automatically included in the cost of the pool build? Perhaps I should conduct a poll on this topic?

Titanium