Hello everyone, I just recently got a house with a pool. I have no knowledge whatsoever to take care of one so to take some worries off my head, I decide to hire a contractor to maintain the pool for me. However, they would sometime request changes that I'm not quite sure if it's necessary or if there is a way to reduce the cost of material and installation. This is one example recently. They want to install a vacuum line where the red circle is in the picture included. Can someone please help to enlighten me about this and how can I reduce the cost if I really need to install one? Thank you so much for your help!
Vacuum Line Replacement
- Thread starter Juniel
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 52,159
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Welcome to TFP! 
What they want to do is "nice" to have but certainly not necessary. Pools with a cartridge filter (like you and me) do not have a a multiport valve, so there is no way to vacuum directly to "waste" which bypasses the filter. It's a nice feature at times, but certainly not a pressing issue. Bypassing the filter has two advantages:
1 - Vacuum to waste In scenarios where you might have a lot of junk (dirt, sand, etc) at the bottom and you don't want it to go to the filter.
2 - Ability to lower the water level fast during heavy rains.
The only negative aspect is that vacuuming to waste can remove a lot of water and chemicals. Typically, cartridge owners just vacuum from the skimmer and the debris goes to the filter, then we open it up and rinse it off. No big deal, and it doesn't reduce the life of the filter. It sounds like they want to avoid opening the filter on their weekly visits to make things more convenient for them.
Also see Pool Care Basics
What they want to do is "nice" to have but certainly not necessary. Pools with a cartridge filter (like you and me) do not have a a multiport valve, so there is no way to vacuum directly to "waste" which bypasses the filter. It's a nice feature at times, but certainly not a pressing issue. Bypassing the filter has two advantages:1 - Vacuum to waste In scenarios where you might have a lot of junk (dirt, sand, etc) at the bottom and you don't want it to go to the filter.
2 - Ability to lower the water level fast during heavy rains.
The only negative aspect is that vacuuming to waste can remove a lot of water and chemicals. Typically, cartridge owners just vacuum from the skimmer and the debris goes to the filter, then we open it up and rinse it off. No big deal, and it doesn't reduce the life of the filter. It sounds like they want to avoid opening the filter on their weekly visits to make things more convenient for them.
Also see Pool Care Basics
Thank you so much for all of this information. I appreciate it!