Best way to clean a pool?

[Pointyhead]

After 4 days of afternoon rains, it was sunny when I got home from work so I had a chance to clean the pool. The water was clear but a lot of dirt on the bottom. I put the vacuum on waste, put a hose in the pool to replace the water, and started. After 37 minutes, another storm came up and I had to quit. I noticed that the water level was down quite a bit, even though I had the hose on full blast. I ran the numbers in my head and I was astounded!

Although I don't know my exact flow rate, I assume that it's average, and will move 3,000 gph. Thirty seven minutes of sweeping will remove 1850 gallons. That's about 7% of my water! Even with the water hose going flow, it's only replacing the water at about 150 gph, so no wonder I'm losing water so quickly.

So...what is the best way to clean a pool that gets a lot of dirt without losing so much water? Should I shut off the main, sweep everything to the drain and then send it to waste? Should I run it all through the filter, and just keep backwashing it when the pressure rises to my threshold?

This is the one area that Pool School doesn't have a lesson plan for.

 

[JasonLion]

Just vacuum normally, not to waste, and then backwash the filter when you are done.

 

[elwood58]

Vacuum in Filter setting. Vacuum to waste can be a great help when trying to get rid of something the filter will not trap, like fine silt etc. as you found out, lots of water can go down the drain when in Waste mode.

 

[Pointyhead]

Good! That's what I'll do from now on. Could be why my CYA is so low, I've replaced a lot of water in the two times I've done this!

 

[anonapersona]

In my 4th year of pool ownership and only this year did we get out the vacuum to do the pool. We left the skimmer sock in place, secured by a big rubber band. It caught a lot of the sand that would have gone to the cart filter. Hoping to put off cleaning the cart filter a bit longer.