Tips and Tricks

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

I use a wire hanger bent over on itself using the "hook" end...the end that would hang on the closet rod...and i hook around the handle of the skimmer basket and pull it up. Developed this when I lifted the skimmer lid one morning and found a dead bird floating around in there. I also find frogs and mice from time to time...ewww! Clothes hanger keeps them all at arms length! :)
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

In March I decided to buy a solar cover. The bubble wrap looking stuff.
Well, I installed it, cut it to the shape of my pool and it worked great. It kept junk out of the pool and it heated up the pool. Unfortunately, it sucked getting the thing off so I bought a used roller off Craigslist. Ok, that worked well. It pulled my cover off very neatly but trying to pull the cover back onto the pool was a huge pain in the arse so I went to Lowes and looked around for a way to unroll the cover off the roller. What I came up with was a 10 foot long piece of PVC pipe. I wrapped that in the end of the cover and zip tied it together and then tied some 1/4 inch rope across the length of the pipe and then tied a length of rope to that.
Now I just take the rope, walk to the end of the pool, pull the rope and it unrolls my cover perfectly. Easy to roll up, easier to unroll.
Works for me and I don't have to spend 3k on an automatic cover.
 
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Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

This is not clever or anything but many newbies probably haven't thought about this too much. Do all of your testing indoors.

Get out your test kit and put it on the kitchen table or somewhere in the house where the lighting is good and a little spilled water won't hurt. Next, take a plastic or styrofoam cup (or a turkey baster) and go outside and get a big sample of pool water and bring it in the house.

Perform all your tests sitting comfortably in good lighting and your results will be very consistent.

As a side benefit, you never take your kit out into a harsher environment and your reagents will last much, much longer.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

I myself use a white poster board on the table to do my tests. A solid white background lets me clearly see the different color shades during the test.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

Thanks, someone referenced this in another thread and I was looking all over for it. Now, I just have to read it all.... ;-)
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

macgulley said:
I have a cheap kitty litter scoop http://s.petco.com/assets/product_images/8/800443124093C.jpg that I use to remove things (spiders, snakes, frogs, mice, etc.) from the skimmer before sticking my hand in.
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I use a butterfly net from the $1 bin at Target to clean out my skimmer before sticking my hand in. Had to come up with something after too many bee stings and spider bites lol
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

We have well water and after my water is balanced upon opening I add a metal sequestrant due to iron. I learned on this board last year to put paper towels in the filter basket to catch the iron. It's amazing how the paper towel will be orange in an hour! After a few days and a couple rolls of paper towels my water went from green to sparkling clear!! :)
 

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JasonLion said:
Collect water for testing in a squirt bottle and then dispense into the various tests from there. A squirt bottle with a very narrow hole is ideal, something like a hair color applicator bottle, but even a mustard/ketchup dispensor bottle will make things simpler.
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Thank you for this! I know some others have posted this as well, but I was always filling up each container out by the pool and bringing them all inside. I picked up a squirt bottle at walmart for $0.97 and wrote Pool on it with a sharpie. Used it last night for the first time, filled it up, brought it in and filled all of my tests very easily. Why did I never think of that. :hammer:

Also, I'll add one, for those with an AG pool, trying to clean out the skimmer basket with the "cotton" that is prevalent now is difficult, seems to get stuck and is hard to get out. I have a filter with a pressure release on top that you unscrew to release any air in the filter, and water streams out from it onto the lawn. I open this up and use the water stream to clean out the basket. Works pretty well.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

Starlings/Cackles,(birds)-When the young are born the mother constantly cleans the nest by taking the poop and dropping it into standing water-i.e. your pool. For the couple of weeks in the spring when they dive bomb our pool we found putting fishing line elevated around the pool keeps the birds from using the pool as their outhouse.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

For unreeling my solar cover I did the following. I used one of the 8 clips that attach to the reel in the front of it, then attached a long length of 1/4" nylon rope to it so it can reach the other side of the pool. All I have to do now it go to the other end and pull the rope which unreels the cover right on top of the water without it getting all blown about. Also makes it a one person job now.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

JohnT said:
Went over to a friend of a friend's house today to help him with his pool. He was seriously pool-stored and ended up with CYA over 100 in his first season. Showed him how to test and how to vacuum and explained the chemistry. Hopefully have him set up so I can help him over the phone for a while. I showed him a couple of things that are handy, and neither he or the friend who connected us knew about them:

The first is the use of polarized sunglasses when cleaning the pool. Boaters and fishermen know for sure how good they are at cutting the glare off the water, but they are great for being able to see the bottom of the pool when there's a little chop on the water.

The other thing is how I skim the pool. After the net has some stuff in it, I lower the net right next to the skimmer with the dirty side toward the pool's skimmer door. The water flow pulls the crud off and into the skimmer.

Both seemed obvious to me, but those guys were all but in awe of me when I left. 8)
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Buy a good pool cleaning robot. Best advice I have and have saved much labor.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got

I used to do this until the handle broke on my bucket of water/acid and it spilled all over my concrete, discoloring it. Took a long time for the sun to finally bleach it out. Now, I just gently pour the acid directly into the deep end of pool.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

To those of you that also might feed birds....I cut the legs off the panty hose and fill with thistle for my finches. I use the panty part to cover my skimmer basket to catch all the "scum" and really fine stuff.
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

Every time I work around my pool, I place my cell phone in a water-proof pouch, which is worn with a neck strap. I bought it long ago when I went on a canoe trip and never used it afterward. But I have used it every day since opening my pool. One side of it is clear and thin enough plastic that the touch screen still works through it. It has been so handy!
 
Re: A couple of tips I thought everybody knew. Anybody got some

This probably isn't useful for day-to-day pool work, but I thought it was a great idea:

We had a new liner installed a couple of years ago. The installer used a few bags of pool salt to hold the floor of the new liner in place while it filled. When the water level was high enough, he just cut the bags and let the salt dissolve. I asked him why he used salt and he said "Have you ever tried to lift a wet 50 pound bag of sand?"

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

When emptying the basket at your pool pump feel around inside the impeller for debris that may have made it through the basket and got stuck at the pump, with the pump off of course. This will ensure better water pressure/flow.
Use a skimmer sock or a nylon inside the skimmer basket to help collect pine needles that may flow through your baskets and get stuck inside the impeller of the pump.
The skimmer sock or nylon collects smaller debris which helps keep your filter cleaner when vacuuming too.
 

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