Will a skimmer basket full of leaves eat up my FC?

[AndyTN]

I have many large trees around my pool which late in the summer are under heat stress and are constantly shedding leaves into the pool. It isn't realistic to empty my skimmer basket 3 times per day and if I don't empty it for several days, it will get pretty full. So I know the FC is going to fight organics, which leaves are organics, but being small compared to the rest of the pool, will the basket of leaves eat up my FC? I also deal with tannin stains a lot and don't want to end up with those issues if I can prevent them.

 

[Dirk]

Eat up? Eventually. Use? For sure. Anything organic in your water will use up chlorine. Big or small. On the surface, suspended, on the bottom, in the skimmer basket, in the pump basket, and in the filter. Even the stains left behind. The cleaner you keep all of those, the less chlorine your pool will consume.

 

[Dirk]

Trim the trees back. Cover your pool. Erect nets that collect the leaves before they get to the pool. Replace messy trees and shrubs with evergreens and less messy varieties. Those are a few things you can do. Short of that, ya gotta keep the baskets clear as often as possible. Or just use more chlorine. I clear my skimmer once a day. My pump basket about once a week. My filter about once a year. But I have a pretty clean setup, even though I am surrounded by trees (60 at last count). The original landscaper did a good job of plant selection around the pool.

 

[Newdude]

I have leaf problems. (60 or so oaks, big uns). I have had many clumps in the pool more times than I can count. And filled skimmer baskets even more than that. I noticed that green leaves and branches/twigs (although organic) don’t do anything to the chemistry. There were plenty of Nor’easter’s Hurricanes and Tropical storms that filled my bottom 6 inches with leaves. I’m not talking a few leaves. Leaves that are dead and already decaying would make more of a difference, and especially the ones that get under the cover in the fall and have the whole off season to fester. They need to come out with whatever other sediment is there before the water will clear. They will eat the chlorine almost as fast as you can pour it.

if you have relatively fresh stuff falling in, get it out when it’s convenient, but don’t change your weekend around because of the leaves.