Hello there! This is my first post asking for advice here at TFP. This is my second season of pool maintenance since owning my first pool last year.
I'm in the middle of opening my pool. After vacuuming the film of algae that settled on the pool floor and running SLAM process for 2 days, my water has cleared enough for me to see the bottom. I found some debris of tiny rocks or big-grained sand have collected on few spots on the pool floor.
I started to vacuum them out with my filter set to drain/waste. As soon as the first pile was sucked, my pump started making rattling noises due to the tiny rocks hitting the impeller and inside wall. I immediately stopped vacuuming thinking that the debris may cause some damage to the pump.
I then removed the vacuum, set filter to normal, and turned the pump back on. The rattling noises came back but eventually disappeared, most likely because all the debris now moved to the filter.
I then tried to use my leaf vacuum to pick up the tiny rocks. I was able to successfully remove half of them this way, but the other half (mostly concentrated close to the central drain) was more stubborn and refused to be taken by the leaf vacuum.
I searched online about using the normal vacuum method to remove this type of debris, and got mixed responses. Some said it's safe for the pool pump while others said otherwise.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!
I'm in the middle of opening my pool. After vacuuming the film of algae that settled on the pool floor and running SLAM process for 2 days, my water has cleared enough for me to see the bottom. I found some debris of tiny rocks or big-grained sand have collected on few spots on the pool floor.
I started to vacuum them out with my filter set to drain/waste. As soon as the first pile was sucked, my pump started making rattling noises due to the tiny rocks hitting the impeller and inside wall. I immediately stopped vacuuming thinking that the debris may cause some damage to the pump.
I then removed the vacuum, set filter to normal, and turned the pump back on. The rattling noises came back but eventually disappeared, most likely because all the debris now moved to the filter.
I then tried to use my leaf vacuum to pick up the tiny rocks. I was able to successfully remove half of them this way, but the other half (mostly concentrated close to the central drain) was more stubborn and refused to be taken by the leaf vacuum.
I searched online about using the normal vacuum method to remove this type of debris, and got mixed responses. Some said it's safe for the pool pump while others said otherwise.
What do you guys think?
Thanks!