Arizona Dust Devil Cleanup

[Great To Be Alive]

Hey All,

Two dust devils came through the exact same spot in our neighborhood today 2-3 hours apart, and both hit our house and yard head-on. It ripped tile shingles off the roof and deposited a bunch of sand and debris in the pool. What a mess. I don't even own a vacuum attachment, as my pool has been really clean and I just sweep it one a week. Is it okay to simply sweep these clumps of sand down the main drain, or is it necessary to use a vacuum attachment? The vacuum sends it to the main Hayward cartridge filter anyway, but not sure about sweeping the abrasive sand across the Pebble Sheen plaster surface. What do you recommend given it would take me several days to source a vacuum attachment most likely(Pandemic).

BTW: The pool is a 6-month old 10K Gal new construction pool here in Arizona, with Hayward Sense and Dispense for PH and CL. I know I need to update my signature, but for now, I could just use some guidance.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Texas Splash]

It's always good to have at least a manual vacuum handy that you connect to the skimmer, but for now, if you chose to sweep some SLOWLY into the main drain it should be okay. But brush the sand slowly as to not overwhelm the drain plumbing or filter (watch your psi gauge). Those DDs are cool to watch ......... from a distance. They're a real pain in the backside when they hit you head-on. To get two of them in one day, you must've had a big "HIT ME" magnet on the house. Hope you get everything repaired soon.

 

[Great To Be Alive]

Thanks for the advise... Yeah, this is the third dust devil to hit our house in the last week. Exact same path on each one, so there is some weird wind vortex causing them to hit us head on. Neighbors weren't touched by any of them, the last one being the worst and causing the damage.

I may be able to source a manual vac from Leslie's today, but good to know I can slowly sweep if needed... Still worried a bit about the abrasive sand-sweeping on the plaster, though. I also thought about the Sense and Dispense as I woke up this morning. I'll shut those valves off so as to not run all this sand by the probes.

I've heard about vacuuming to waste. If I'm able to find a vac head today, is there an easy way to tell if my system has the ability to vacuum to waste? I have a hose bib after the pump but before the Hayward cartridge filter for draining the pool. If I open that up, I guess that would essentially be flushing some of the sand out of the system perhaps?

 

[mknauss]

With a cartridge filter you do not have the ability to vacuum to waste. Only if there is a three way valve between the pump and filter. And that is very unusual.

Most main drain systems do not have much suction so I would doubt that roofing material would get removed by them.

Do you have an in floor cleaning system?

Can you fill out your signature? Really helps us help you. See Create Your Signature - Further Reading

 

[Great To Be Alive]

So... the better part of the day later and the pool is looking pretty good. I do have in-floor cleaners, but decided to leave the pump off today and cleaned it manually. I don't have a three way valve before the filter, so to your point, mknauss, no vacuum to waste option.

• Skimmed what I could off the top
• Swept the floor sand and gravel into 8-10 rough piles to at least consolidate the bigger stuff
• Got out the trusty wet/dry shop vac and went at it(Just couldn't see running all that sand the gravel through my pump). Took an hour or two, but based on what came out it was worth it.
• Once Home Depot opened, my wife was able to pick up a simple vacuum head and hose
• Vacuumed the entire pool to get the majority up of finer stuff up and then turned on the pump/floor cleaners while I swept the entire pool again

The vacuum head was really helpful to have, as before that even the little sweeping I did clouded up the water pretty badly. Anyway, after running the pump for the second half of the day the water looks pretty clear. I the future, I think I might look for a skimmer basket attachment for the vacuum hose. Being able to use the vacuum but have it trap debris in the skimmer basket / net would be really cool.

Thanks for the help, guys!

 

[Newdude]

Yeah, this is the third dust devil to hit our house in the last week

Username checks out. might wanna play some lotto and maybe those odds can work in you favor.