Tips and Tricks

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Arizonarob said:
:oops: Remind me NEVER to hug my veterinarian!!
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JUST syringes. No needles attached. And don't worry, the techs and assitants do the bulk of injections and blood drawings anyway. So don't hug one of them :D
 
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JamesW said:
It's better if you can brush down the walls and floor to mix in the liquid chlorine rather than just adding it to the pool in one spot.
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yes it is. with my device i can add a little bit in multiple spots around the perimeter very easily. still, no brushing. so not the best but better than nothing. In the fall i use the device in front of the return jets; in the time after i cover but before i fully close. i also use a robot during that time and only pop the cover when i need to clean the robot. much easier this way for me.
 
mbar said:
When starting to vacuum, put the bottom of the vacuum up to the return to fill the hose, with the vacuum cap in the skimmer. As soon as the air bubbles stop and water runs out, put the cap on the skimmer to start to vacuum. When finished, lift of the vacuum head to let air in and suck all water out, holding on to the cap - as soon as you can feel the cap move, remove it - you will have hardly any water left in the hose :) .

When the water in your pool is not up to the skimmer yet, and you want the pump on filter, you can use the vacuum head and pole to use the water from the pool to go into the skimmer. You can also drain your pool this way too 8)

When testing your pool water take the sample from the place that gets the least circulation - like near the ladder, this way you be sure that all the water in the pool has the right amount of chemicals. Get your sample from about 8" down.

Here is my favorite - if you need to clean the scum line - get in and enjoy the water while you do it :-D
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Brilliant using the return to fill the vacuum hose! Now, what do I do with a hose that keeps coiling up. There has got to be a trick to getting it freed up so I am not wrestling with it!
 
JRzMom said:
Brilliant using the return to fill the vacuum hose! Now, what do I do with a hose that keeps coiling up. There has got to be a trick to getting it freed up so I am not wrestling with it!
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FWIW, sometimes it helps to lay the hose out as straight as you can, in the sun. Then put something on it or tie it to something to hold one end firm, and pull on it after it warms up. Sometimes you can feel the twists and unwind them a bit. Then lay it back down to heat in the sun, and do it a few more times. After that, storing it without winding it up any tighter than absolutely necessary can help. If there's a hidey place where you can leave it laid out straight when stored, that will also help.
 
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You've heard of stupid PET tricks? Here's a stupid ET trick.

I have an EasyTouch 8 automation system. I could have gotten away with an ET4 because it turns out I have no use for the Aux 4-7 relay circuits.

I programmed Aux 7 with a the shortest possible (1 minute) egg timer so it shuts itself off after 1 minute. There is still nothing connected to the Aux 7 relay, so it does nothing, yet I find this useful on my indoor wall-mounted wired remote control.

How can such a silly thing be useful? The remote is in a darkish location. This trick illuminates the remote's LCD panel so I can read it without changing anything. And it turns off the green LED within a minute when I walk away. D'oh.

This is slightly less of a stupid trick for people other than me; I made a "Panel Light" label for the button so other people can figure out how to make it light up without accidentally changing anything, and I don't have to worry about them forgetting to turn off the LED.
 
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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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Never thought abotu the Skimmer on Skimmer action before, that is a great idea..
 
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For those who have the right access and geometery:
We use round edge to edge pool covers. So I cut them in two so you have a 1/2 circle. (mine had a glue seam down the middle).
Then regardless of how you fold, bundle, or squash your covers on removal, two people can put them on by grasping the opposite edges where you cut, and drag them over the pool surface in the sequence you need to make them fit - almost as how you “throw” a sheet when you make a bed.
 
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Once my pool has warmed up to a good swimming temperature, it seems that evaporation lowers the pool level, so water needs to be added. My wife hates me adding cold hose water to the pool which lowers the pool temperature.

What I have started doing is running 100 feet of hose around the pool deck and just trickle the water. The sun heats the water, so as I fill the pool, my temperature doesn't drop.

The only down side is that, it can take days of trickling water to raise the pool level.
 
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drsipe said:
Once my pool has warmed up to a good swimming temperature, it seems that evaporation lowers the pool level, so water needs to be added. My wife hates me adding cold hose water to the pool which lowers the pool temperature.

What I have started doing is running 100 feet of hose around the pool deck and just trickle the water. The sun heats the water, so as I fill the pool, my temperature doesn't drop.

The only down side is that, it can take days of trickling water to raise the pool level.
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For those of us who don't have an auto-fill built into our pools. Make your own with with a cheap and simple float valve intended for cattle troughs. Hook up a garden hose and voila!

Amazon.com: Little Giant Trough-O-Matic Stock Water Tank Float Valve Controlled Watering Tank with Plastic Housing (Item No. TM825): Pet Supplies

Amazon.com: Little Giant Trough-O-Matic Stock Water Tank Float Valve Controlled Watering Tank with Plastic Housing (Item No. TM825): Pet Supplies
www.amazon.com

This will also give you that slow trickle and you never have to worry about forgetting to turn the hose bib off (or on).
 
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Skimmer baskets!

Have you ever been frustrated by bugs and debris that collect in the skimmer baskets and just won't come out, so you end up banging it on the ground, swiping the nastiness with your hand, or resorting to a hose to try to clean the basket to get it out?
There is a better way! Have you also noticed that as soon as you push the basket back into the skimmer, the junk just floats right out? How irritating! (Or is it?!)
I realized I could use that to my advantage!

Just run the basket backwards through the pool water followed closely behind by a skimming net to catch the debris coming out of the basket. Swish it around a little if necessary to loosen stuff up.
Voila! Clean skimmer baskets in no time without the hassle!
 
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IMO, it is important to keep your electronics cool. What I did was make a small hinged screen door using sun screen fabric. You can buy a small kit at a big box store. All you need is small hinges and a latch. The best latch of all turned out to be a short piece of small vacuum hose and a screw.

I have not tried this, but there is a ceramic window film that is ~ 80% clear and it’s claim to fame is rejecting heat. It is designed to stick to glass but Ill bet you can roll it in like screen fabric.
Tint shops have it on rolls reasonably cheap. A 36 x 24” should be close to a give a way sample size.
BTW, it is great on cars too! :D
 
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