New Pool Professional

[aquasense]

Hey guys/gals,

My name is Travis, I own a pool company in the DFW area in texas. I read a lot of good info on the site so I figured I'd join up and give some advice of from my own personal experiences.

 

[RobbieH]

Want to come vacuum all the mortar out of my pool?

 

[aquasense]

haha, thats always fun to get out! Even more so because you have to be so careful not to scratch the bottom of the pool with the chunks of mortar. What I like to use is a leaf vacuum that sits up off of the bottom and runs off of the pool cleaner pressure line. Most times they have enough power and enough height off the pool floor to suck up the mortar but not drag the mortar. I have a motorized version of the mentioned machine thats electric with a prop inside that creates suction that works great for small rocks and things of that nature.

 

[RobbieH]

No pressure or suction lines in my pool. Built in the 50s.

I should mention I don't care if it scratches the plaster. Going to replaster when the water restrictions are lifted, if ever. We are on level 3 here.

 

[aquasense]

Yeah the water restrictions are killing us pool people around here, I live in mckinney and we are at level 3 here. What is the mortar from if you dont mind me asking? Also, if you would like some help please send me a PM Thanks.

 

[RobbieH]

We had all the coping taken up, all the old base concrete sawed out, and all relaid. This pic doesn't really show how bad it was, but it gives you an idea. The coping was all loose, dangerous, and needed reseating and mortaring.

Pulling up the coping, and sawing out all the concrete made a mess. I've done as much as I can over the last few days, but I just can't get it all with what I have available.

 

[aquasense]

Nice Looking water!!! What did you have it replaced with?

 

[RobbieH]

I kept the original tile. I love it!

Here's some further pics, the mess and what was cut out under the coping. That's my truck's tire for scale. This is WAY better than it was, it's come a long way. When I sweep I will have to backflush in a matter of a couple of hours.

The robot doesn't like all that dirt, it just wants to go back and forth in the bottom of the deep end.

As you can tell, the final wash and seal on the tile hasn't been done yet.

 

[aquasense]

Wow! Looks a ton better. Thats always fun to clean up. I also have an external filter and pump I use sometimes to clean that big of a mess up. The other option that I do sometimes that works great (not sure how the stage 4 in dallas affects this) is I use the multiport valve to vacuum to waste and vacuum quick as to loose as little water as possible with a normal vacuum to get the majority of the dirt out. By the time i'm done vacuuming the pool is normally cloudy so I'll let it run and filter for a day or two. Sometimes I'll even use a floc. if its really cloudy. Then just vacuum the rest like normal and do a good backwash.

 

[aquasense]

Just noticed the Dolphin in the pic, Those work great too, just have to be cleaned out several times to get all that dirt!

 

[RobbieH]

The dolphin works great, he doesn't like that much dirt though! My pool is a little big for it too.

Unfortunately I can't vacuum and can't use pressure side tools. Pool built in the 50's and there are no ports.

So, that junk is still at the bottom. The clear water pic is from last year, but you can see the bad mortar in it.

 

[aquasense]

Forgive me if I'm missing something here. But you have skimmers, you should be able to manual vacuum (which is what I was refering to in the post above). If you don't have a valve for each skimmer you can use a plug in one skimmer to get enough suction. There is always a way to vacuum manually with a vac head and a hose if you have a skimmer (or any suction port aside from a drain). Now you may not have the valve needed to vacuum to waste, but can still vacuum and backwash. If I'm missing something I'm sorry and please disreguard this post. Let me know your thoughts and maybe I can tell you a way to get it vacummed!

Reguards, Aquasense Pools

 

[Buford]

Robbie: When I did my coping, I did exactly what Aqua is suggesting (but I got in the pool, and it was not this cold) but I attached a nylon sock with a rubber band to keep the larger grit out of the filter/pump. I also found out what happens when a sock goes to the hose.

 

[George N]

I also found out what happens when a sock goes to the hose.

 

[RobbieH]

Forgive me if I'm missing something here. But you have skimmers, you should be able to manual vacuum (which is what I was refering to in the post above). If you don't have a valve for each skimmer you can use a plug in one skimmer to get enough suction.

The main drain is tied to the skimmer, and plumbed together somewhere underground so there's no way to turn off the main drain.. I understand that to be an issue using a skimmer based vac. I have one skimmer for the 44,000 gallon pool, so no worries that there are no valves to turn other skimmers off.

 

[aquasense]

Yeah that's an issue I don't run into much. Sometimes you can still get enough suction to vacuum it just takes longer to get the job done and can be very tedious. I have vacuumed many times with two skimmers on one line with no plug before and I worked okay. Good luck. Let me know If I can be of further assistance.

 

[RobbieH]

Can you point me to an example of the vac I need?

 

[waste]

Aquasense, Welcome to TFP!!

I like 'the cut of your jib', you've come here to both learn and share your experience

 

[aquasense]

Sorry it's taken a while for my reply. This is what the vac head would look like http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Automat ... 82701.html, you can get them from about $25 to $150 just depending on the quality you would like to buy. With that you will also need a vac hose http://www.lesliespool.com/Home/Automat ... 22462.html . Now under theory you should be able to vacuum sufficiently with this. I use these on a daily basis and they will get the pool cleaner than any other type of vacuum. The problem comes in with older pools like yours. More often than not I see older pools with undersized pumps and they dont have to power to draw a good vacuum with two return lines open. Good luck!