Tips and Tricks

[WaterWoman]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

Wow, I'm so glad I found this thread! So many great tips here! Thank you all so much! I've bookmarked it so I can come back easily.

 

[dmanb2b]

Re:

Another one is for if you have a bunch of dirt on top of your solar cover. Just turn the pump on and use a garden hose to rinse the dirt across the cover into the skimmer. Way better than dumping it into the pool when you take the cover off.

Now that is a tip that will come in handy with the daily t-storms and 70 ft locust trees surrounding my property ...wish I thought of that sooner

 

[singerteacher]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

When I add bleach to the pool I float the bottle in the pool just in front for the skimmer intake. I can then easily pour the bleach into the water stream with no splashing at all.

I tried this, but how do you get a full bottle of bleach to "float"? Seems like mine just wants to sink to the bottom. I also thought it was best to pour bleach in front of the returns. Could a jolt of pure bleach pose any risk to your skimmer or filter?

My secret is Magic Erasers, which when combined with lots of elbow grease will take all kinds of stains off stairs and other surrounds (not to mention patio furniture).

Also, I fill an empty 16 oz. squeeze bottle (bought in the bulk food section of a health food store) with water for testing, and bring it to whatever location is going to give me the best light. It allows me to add just one drop of water at a time to the test tubes, so I can fill exactly to the line.

 

[DCAG]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

Yes, getting bleach splashed on you isn't good. Here's what I do:
I take a pencil and poke a hole in the bleach container's paper cover, and squeeze the bleach bottle 1/2 an inch over the water above the return. This way I also don't have to touch the paper cover, and tilting the bottle back upright (if not using the whole thing) will not splatter.

Plus, if I'm bored, I can write my name in the pool...

Dan

 

[geekgranny]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

I've started using the small diameter piece of PVC to get water out of the pool for testing. Great idea and you can do it standing up. Ladies, I use a 1/2 instead of 3/4 inch as the smaller is easier to use with my feminine thumb. :-D

 

[lborne]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

After 4 months of owning my pool, here are my tips:

1. I do not have an automatic pool filler, but I do have a hose spigot 5 feet away from my equipment pad. So I added a T in the pool plumbing on the pressure side with a female hose fitting. I can use it to drain the pool if I need to, but mostly use it to fill the pool easily. I bought a metered shut off valve from Ace Hardware for $7 (50% off coupon) and it allows me to dial the amount of water I'd like added to the pool, and then shuts off automatically so I don't have an accidental overflow or have to go back out and shut it off.

2. I wanted a wireless pool thermometer but the ones they sell are expensive, so I bought a cheap $10 one at walmart that is not waterproof, placed the sending unit inside a 2" PVC threaded coupling with two end caps. I had if floating around the pool, but now keep it in the skimmer so it can't be seen. I get about 30 foot range from it.

3. Most days I'm only checking pH and CL, so I have a large syringe I use to collect my water sample. The cc's markings on the syringe are the same as the ml markings on the test tubes, so I can collect just enough for my tests and dispensing is easy and accurate and I don't have to bend down to see if the water level is at the line.

4. I printed out my recommended chemical levels, cut to size, and laminated it at Staples. Its business card size and I stuck it to the top of my test kit with that gummy stuff you find holding perfume samples in magazines.

5. I don't keep a running log of my test results, but do like to have at least a week or two's worth of data to see trends. I took a clear plastic divider that is used for presentations and three ring binders and cut it to size so that it stores in my test kit. With a sharpie, I made grid lines and column headings for the date, CL, pH, TA, etc. Then, using a small white board marker, I can record the results and take it to the computer for entering into the poolcalculator. When its full, a damp cloth erases the white board marker, but not the sharpie headings.

6. I built a PVC towel rack that can hold 4 towels flat and also has 90s at the ends to hold bathing suits. I did not use glue, so it is easily broken down and stored away in the winter months.

 

[Cherie]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

For collecting water from the pool, I use a grabber. I take my freebie Leslie's water bottle, remove the cap, insert one side of the grabber prong into the opening and squeeze the grabber to hold onto the bottle and hold it tight until it's filled with water. That way, I can lower it as deep as I need to and not get my arm wet.

 

[Freelancer]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

To avoid air getting into your system when vacuming, connect hose to vac head, run hose out onto the water, but vac into water keeping hold of hose, feed the hose from the surface under the water, air will be forced out of hose end and hose filled with water, place hose end on vac point with no air inside.

To help get the pump basket lid off, open the air valve on top of the filter. It releases the pressure and makes removal of the pump basket lid a lot easier.

I use a small magnet on a piece of string to remove metal objects, hairpins coins etc, things that are hard to net, especially when the water is cold.

 

[polyvue]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

I use a small magnet on a piece of string to remove metal objects, hairpins coins etc, things that are hard to net, especially when the water is cold.

Great tip. Had to fish out an axle screw that come out of my automatic cleaner in the deep end in September and I wondered what I would do if it happened in winter. Now I know.

 

[Uncle Ben]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

One I thought of is to wear fins or flippers to help tread water more easily in the deep end while your hands are being occupied cleaning, scrubbing, or some other task.

 

[plucky71]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

One that I used recently. You can lower the water level using just a garden hose. Fill the hose with water and place one end in the pool and the other end somewhere in the yard lower than the end of the hose in the pool. It will siphon out the water. Be sure to keep the discharge end of the hose closed off until you are ready to start. Otherwise you will lose your prime.

 

[ivyleager]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

One that I used recently. You can lower the water level using just a garden hose. Fill the hose with water and place one end in the pool and the other end somewhere in the yard lower than the end of the hose in the pool. It will siphon out the water. Be sure to keep the discharge end of the hose closed off until you are ready to start. Otherwise you will lose your prime.

Yep. This works like a charm, even when you don't want it to. I had to lower my water level over the winter as Carolina had more snow and rain this winter than average. Well, I turned off the little pump when the water reached goal level, but never took it out of the pool. Siphoning effect continued to lower the was another 2 inches when I eventually took it out later that week after more snow melted. Then I had to add water. UGH!

 

[svenpup]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

One that I used recently. You can lower the water level using just a garden hose. Fill the hose with water and place one end in the pool and the other end somewhere in the yard lower than the end of the hose in the pool. It will siphon out the water. Be sure to keep the discharge end of the hose closed off until you are ready to start. Otherwise you will lose your prime.

I used to use a garden hose to drain too (until I broke down and bought a submersible pump).

I found that the easiest way to get the siphon going was to get the hose all laid out first and hold the end of the hose up to the return. There is enough pressure to get the water up and over the edge of the pool and get the flow started. Much easier than filling the hose with water and trying to maintain the prime while you get it situated. (probably less of an issue for AG, but for my IG I have to get the end of the hose way down the driveway to get below the water level).

 

[ironmanix]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

I have five skimmers and three returns in my pool. The skimmers have ball valves with red handles. Well, they were difficult to turn as it was, but in the three years I've had the pool I've broken a half of three of the handles. With half of a handle it's Darn near impossible to turn them.

The handle looks like this.. http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/811048/71 ... valves.jpg

Today I looked at them and decided to drill a hole through the handle that allows me to fit a screwdriver into it. Simple solution - slip the screwdriver in and get the leverage you need to easily turn the valve. I've looked for an easy solution to the broken handles for years - almost paid to have them all replaced. Can't believe I ended up thinking of something so simple.

 

[ironmanix]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

One that I used recently. You can lower the water level using just a garden hose. Fill the hose with water and place one end in the pool and the other end somewhere in the yard lower than the end of the hose in the pool. It will siphon out the water. Be sure to keep the discharge end of the hose closed off until you are ready to start. Otherwise you will lose your prime.

I used to use a garden hose to drain too (until I broke down and bought a submersible pump).

I found that the easiest way to get the siphon going was to get the hose all laid out first and hold the end of the hose up to the return. There is enough pressure to get the water up and over the edge of the pool and get the flow started. Much easier than filling the hose with water and trying to maintain the prime while you get it situated. (probably less of an issue for AG, but for my IG I have to get the end of the hose way down the driveway to get below the water level).

Great suggestion. I hate lowering the pool level after a big rain because I gotta drag the pump and garden hose out or pump out all of my DE using the main pump. And I also have to set a timer to remind myself that I'm draining water. Too many times I've forgotten and gone too far and then I need to refill it, etc.

Last night, I used my vaccuum hose instead of a garden hose. From the pool into the drain near the pool.

Another tip - set the pool-end of the hose into the water only to the level you wish to drain to - then forget about it. I used my vaccuum pole to trap the tube at the correct level. When the water gets to the level you want the tube will start to siphon air and turn itself off, so to speak. Set it and forget it.

 

[anonapersona]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

There is a blue ribbon on the valve that turns of the water to fill the pool. when I turn the water on, I put that ribbon on my wrist. And I put a timer on in the kitchen.

Yeah, I know that I posted recently about overfilling the pool... somehow that ribbon had disappeared and without that it was just too easy to forget.

 

[ironmanix]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

There is a blue ribbon on the valve that turns of the water to fill the pool. when I turn the water on, I put that ribbon on my wrist. And I put a timer on in the kitchen.

Yeah, I know that I posted recently about overfilling the pool... somehow that ribbon had disappeared and without that it was just too easy to forget.

I do the kitchen timer too.

Funny, though - you can do all kinds of things and still something comes up and you forget.

I have four kids. I can't remember the last 5 minutes of my life it seems.

 

[poolgirl22]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

There is a blue ribbon on the valve that turns of the water to fill the pool. when I turn the water on, I put that ribbon on my wrist. And I put a timer on in the kitchen.

Yeah, I know that I posted recently about overfilling the pool... somehow that ribbon had disappeared and without that it was just too easy to forget.

I was wasting water off the pool the other day from gobs of rain. Me, my DH, and FIL were not 4 feet from the pool working on the deck. I SAID...let's pay attention so I don't waste off too much.

A bit later... barely above the skimmer line. GRRRRRRrrrrrr.....

 

[mkenyon2]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

I forget where, Lowe's or Home Depot, but I got a hose timer. It's like an egg timer you attach in line to the hose. Then when I fill, I set the time, 1 hour or so, and it turns itself off.

 

[NWMNMom]

Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

When replacing a liner in an above ground pool. Mark several sandwich sized ziplock bags for each piece of equipment's screws/bolts/nuts. Use a marker to number top plates and uprights. Lesson learned here for us this time: take a picture of the pool showing the top stabalizer rails before you remove them so they go back on the same way many manufacturer instructions sheets are a bit vague on exact placement - spray paint ends to identify later and STORE THEM IN A BOX TOGETHER so none of them get lost in the shuffle (the mistake we made this time around)