What to do when going on vacation - LEAVES!

[lislmont92]

Hello! My fiance and I live in Texas and have an inground pool. Because we live in Texas, we don't close it and have an automatic pump that runs at a designated speed if the water temperature drops below freezing. So this post isn't about closing our pool rather what to do about the GAZILLION leaves when we go away on vacation for a week during the Fall! Our baskets fill up twice per day since we have overarching trees. I was wondering what y'all do - I've heard mixed reviews about temporary covers due to water collecting in them and then they tear and cause a mess. I bought a net to put over but I worry about squirrels etc getting caught and drowning (who wants to come home to a bunch of dead animals in their pool?!) And we also considered having a neighbor come by and empty our baskets once per day but we would rather not have someone on our property if possible. Just curious what y'all do!!!! Thanks!! PS We have a Polaris pool vacuum that fills up daily as well. I know, we have a lot of leaves!!!

 

[Texas Splash]

For only a week, you have a few options:
- Temporary cover
- Ask a friend to clean out the skimmer basket daily
- If you have a main drain, set the suction to that
- Create or buy a type of skimmer leave block (see below)

Skimmer Guards - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

Skimmer Leaf Trap

Skimmer Leaf Trap: The Problem: Leaves floating on the surface of the pool will clog your skimmers. The tannins in the leaves turn your skimmer basket and piping brown. And then, when you clean out the skimmer, stray leaves get sucked down the pipe. The Solution: I us…

www.instructables.com

 

[rphpool]

What Splash said is the best advise:
If you have a main drain, set the suction to that

 

[Divin Dave]

Same problem here and I don't have a main drain, so thats out.
Cant leave the pump running, the skimmer will fill up and restrict flow.
Everybody who knows me knows I don't have any friends.

So what I do? I just turn off the pump.
Before I go though, I raise the FC to SLAM level. This time of year, not too worried about high FC consumption due to UV.
Water temp is also much cooler, so that helps too.

Unless you have a MD, or a friend to scoop leaves, thats about it.
Even the leaf trap can be overwhelmed under the right conditions.
Lots of leave scooping when returning home, but what else ya gonna do?