Fine dirt but from bad material choice

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aquaman

aquaman

Well-known member
May 28, 2008
152
Pleasanton, CA
Hi Everybody!

This is my first post and I have been on the site for a few hours and could not find exact match. Forgive me if this is discussed elsewhere and I could not find it. Man the articles here are great! So inconsistent when you talk to pool store folks!
I fired the pool guy 4 months ago and just cleaned the filter for the second time, don't know when they cleaned it last.
I have been doing pretty well on water chemistry but your articles are excellent!
I have a 3 year old pool with a finish that is a brand similar to pebblesheen(sp?) The pool comes up to a hill and there is a 3 to 5 foot wall (varies) above the pool surface that goes up to the hot tub and a planter in another area. This surface is covered with natural slate tile. It was my wife's choice and the pool builder did not discourage us from using this natural product. It looks great until...
Well it flakes, it powders, it causes sand/clay/dirt intermittently depending on the weather. It may be decomposing faster now that it is aging.
We considered sealing it but then the calcium deposits that leech out the mortar joints cannot be addressed with mild muriatic and a careful brush, as we do to clean that stuff off now (does that ever stop?).

The polaris (hummer we call it) picks up the flakes and some sand very well but the rest need to be pushed to the drains and well, I just spent 40minutes hosing MUD off the cartridges.

My questions are -
Is the pump or impeller going to suffer from any of this grit processing?
Is water chemistry affected by such material (hard to say? clay is alkaline?)
Is another filter (only DE backflushes?) going to keep me ahead of this?

I do not know how to vacuum a pool! I have a plate that fits on top of the skimmer basket - is this how people connect to vacuum? Since that (fine) dirt goes to the filter anyway, how is this different than sweeping to the returns?
Replacing this material will be oodles of bucks, so want to know my downsides of working with it for now, other than my labor.
Thanks for this empowering site!
Signed,
Not So Trouble Free in North Cal (Bob)
 
The pump should be fine. Anything large enough to trouble the pump should be caught in the pump strainer basket. Remember to check the pump strainer basket occasionally, if you don't already.

There are no significant effects on the pool chemistry.

A sand filter might deal with the sand/sludge more gracefully. It would still need frequent backwashing, but that is simpler with sand than with DE.

If you can brush everything into the drain that is just as good as manual vacuuming. It all goes into the filter either way.
 
I just this past weekend had the opportunity to vacuum an in-ground. The process is slightly different (and much easier IMO) than with an above-ground.

There's a cover with a hole in it that fits over the basket. Attach the vacuum hose to the vacuum head and attach the pole to the head as well. Put them in the water. Hold the other end of the hose against a return to fill it with water. When no more bubbles come out of the submerged vacuum head the hose is full enough. Put the end in the hole of the skimmer plate and you're good to go.
 
aquaman said:
...
The polaris (hummer we call it) picks up the flakes and some sand very well but the rest need to be pushed to the drains and well, I just spent 40minutes hosing MUD off the cartridges.
Click to expand...
...

What model of Polaris do you have? I have a 280 with the fine mesh filter bag and it doesn't leave ANYTHING visible behind on the bottom of the pool. If you have the leaf bag I would suggest an upgrade to the fine mesh bag.
 
Anna!

Put the hose against the return. Duh.

This college graduate has been either in the pool submerging the hose or trying to get it to suction from the higher hot tub!
I do have one of those discs and took the one way valve off the bottom of the skimmer but was underimpressed by the suction strength. Thus I have not bought a vacuum roller plate do-hicky thinking that would be another piece of plastic in my life with limited purpose.

I explained this to a pool shop and he said the the hose can fit into one of the return holes in the skimmer. It did for 4 minutes until the adapter sucked into the pipe! I could not get the hose out (was not going to take a screwdriver to the skimmer to pry - there are threads in that hole and worse if the base cracked those skimmers are $$$.

So a hundred dollar service call later (I successfully supressed my middle aged man rage) the pool guy said - You have a commercial type skimmer with a slightly bigger inlet in the bottom. Like one out of fifty residential pools have that.

Harry - I think I have same- will double check - I'll have hummer tracks thru fine silt at times, less when I brush well.
 
aquaman said:
Anna!
Put the hose against the return. Duh.

This college graduate has been either in the pool submerging the hose or trying to get it to suction from the higher hot tub!
Click to expand...



Heheheh . . . This college graduate looked at the method the PB showed us and concluded that there had to be a better way. :idea:
 

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