So this is my first fall in this house/forest/pool. I've been dutifully netting leaves morning and night, since I scheduled the pool co to close on oct 26th. I've installed a pool skim as well.
My pool is octagonal.
Until the wind picked up today, it seemed worthwhile to run the filter while at work, and simply empty the basket and pool skim sock when home (still about 50 percent getting to floor, which I then clean up with a leaf rake.) After a 12 hr day today at work, skimmer was so packed it could barely move water. When. Removed the basket, didn't think to turn off pump -- boatload of leaves got into pump basket. Then cleaned it out. Ten minutes later, pump basket was full again, meaning a lot had gotten sucked into line and I'm lucky it didn't clog.
What's the best method to (manually) manage an increasing leaf load?
Eg, leave pump off during day to be on safe side, let em sink, remove, then only filter when adding chlorine in am?
Or setting it for just a few hours during day, towards when I get home?
Or is it better to filter all day and unlikely pump wil be harmed by the strain? (provided I remember to turn it off when emptying in the dark...)
Any tips would be helpful. Not sure a bot could handle these leaves unsupervised either -- lots of
oak, maple, Aspen, pine, Japanese maple, azalea, hibiscus, cherry, red bud,you name it here.
I could teach school with the leaves in this pool
However, I do want to at least try to open clean next spring to avoid the shock and awe of my introduction to the pool
Thanks in advance for any input.
My pool is octagonal.
Until the wind picked up today, it seemed worthwhile to run the filter while at work, and simply empty the basket and pool skim sock when home (still about 50 percent getting to floor, which I then clean up with a leaf rake.) After a 12 hr day today at work, skimmer was so packed it could barely move water. When. Removed the basket, didn't think to turn off pump -- boatload of leaves got into pump basket. Then cleaned it out. Ten minutes later, pump basket was full again, meaning a lot had gotten sucked into line and I'm lucky it didn't clog.
What's the best method to (manually) manage an increasing leaf load?
Eg, leave pump off during day to be on safe side, let em sink, remove, then only filter when adding chlorine in am?
Or setting it for just a few hours during day, towards when I get home?
Or is it better to filter all day and unlikely pump wil be harmed by the strain? (provided I remember to turn it off when emptying in the dark...)
Any tips would be helpful. Not sure a bot could handle these leaves unsupervised either -- lots of
oak, maple, Aspen, pine, Japanese maple, azalea, hibiscus, cherry, red bud,you name it here.
I could teach school with the leaves in this pool
However, I do want to at least try to open clean next spring to avoid the shock and awe of my introduction to the pool
Thanks in advance for any input.