- Apr 26, 2009
- 419
So here's yesterday's project:
10AM -
And 7PM -
Now, my wife (and the customer) thinks I am Superman, but to be honest, this was one of those "almost perfect" situations - the customer had covered the pool with a black tarp last weekend because he had a party and didn't want his friends to see how bad his pool was, so most of the algae had sunk to the bottom. Most of the black you see here is on the bottom, and the water is fairly clear. However, the black consisted of anaerobic muck and algae in about 4" of leaves, sticks and twigs. In the deep end, this "pile" was 8-12" deep (or deeper)...
Here is my "Pump to drain" pump:
So,
The challenge on a job like this with this much muck and debris is to vacuum out as much as possible without stirring the muck/algae into the water column while trying to get all of debris out. Maintaining visibility during the clean-up is KEY! As I said in a different thread, it's the difference between 4-6 gallons of chlorine, and 40 gallons of chlorine. You can tell by the "after" picture that I was pretty successful (used six gallons and was holding 20ppm four hours after adding it).
I can't use the "power-tool" (Leaf-hopper/leaf-master) or net, as the finer debris will blow right through the bag/net and after 5-10 minutes of use, visibility would go to zero and we wouldn't be able to see where we were going.
This in-and-of-itself would turn something like this into a 4-5 day superchlorination job because the algae's been kicked into the water column, and once the visibility is zero, you're using braille to "feel" for the crud on the bottom - invariably missing a good portion of it, and watch it all float to the top during the SC (while it's eating gallon upon gallon of chlorine).
So, vacuuming to waste is the challenge - Where the frustration lies is the *%%*$## vacuuming itself. The friggen hole at the bottom of the vac is too small and twigs continually clog the 1 1/2" hole on the bottom of the vacuum. I can hear the pump change sound when it clogs, and then have to SLOWLY lift the vac-head and pull it out of the pool to clear it, and then wait for the pump to re-prime. No matter how hard I try, this invariably happens every few minutes.
What I really need, is something like a leaf-hopper-sized vac head that won't get clogged anywhere near as often. I'm starting to ramble here, but just looking for ideas - vacuuming for six hours, when 70% of that time is unclogging the vac hose and waiting for the pump to re-prime... there has to be a better way.
- Jeff
Note: I can handle emptying the pump basket when it gets full (I actually have a large Hayward leaf canister, but didn't have it on this job).
[Edited to note: My wife says that I AM superman... and NOT just because I do an awesome job on cleaning pools
]
10AM -
And 7PM -
Now, my wife (and the customer) thinks I am Superman, but to be honest, this was one of those "almost perfect" situations - the customer had covered the pool with a black tarp last weekend because he had a party and didn't want his friends to see how bad his pool was, so most of the algae had sunk to the bottom. Most of the black you see here is on the bottom, and the water is fairly clear. However, the black consisted of anaerobic muck and algae in about 4" of leaves, sticks and twigs. In the deep end, this "pile" was 8-12" deep (or deeper)...
Here is my "Pump to drain" pump:
So,
The challenge on a job like this with this much muck and debris is to vacuum out as much as possible without stirring the muck/algae into the water column while trying to get all of debris out. Maintaining visibility during the clean-up is KEY! As I said in a different thread, it's the difference between 4-6 gallons of chlorine, and 40 gallons of chlorine. You can tell by the "after" picture that I was pretty successful (used six gallons and was holding 20ppm four hours after adding it).
I can't use the "power-tool" (Leaf-hopper/leaf-master) or net, as the finer debris will blow right through the bag/net and after 5-10 minutes of use, visibility would go to zero and we wouldn't be able to see where we were going.
This in-and-of-itself would turn something like this into a 4-5 day superchlorination job because the algae's been kicked into the water column, and once the visibility is zero, you're using braille to "feel" for the crud on the bottom - invariably missing a good portion of it, and watch it all float to the top during the SC (while it's eating gallon upon gallon of chlorine).
So, vacuuming to waste is the challenge - Where the frustration lies is the *%%*$## vacuuming itself. The friggen hole at the bottom of the vac is too small and twigs continually clog the 1 1/2" hole on the bottom of the vacuum. I can hear the pump change sound when it clogs, and then have to SLOWLY lift the vac-head and pull it out of the pool to clear it, and then wait for the pump to re-prime. No matter how hard I try, this invariably happens every few minutes.
What I really need, is something like a leaf-hopper-sized vac head that won't get clogged anywhere near as often. I'm starting to ramble here, but just looking for ideas - vacuuming for six hours, when 70% of that time is unclogging the vac hose and waiting for the pump to re-prime... there has to be a better way.
- Jeff
Note: I can handle emptying the pump basket when it gets full (I actually have a large Hayward leaf canister, but didn't have it on this job).
[Edited to note: My wife says that I AM superman... and NOT just because I do an awesome job on cleaning pools
]
