How to Use a Pool Vacuum? — Enjoy a Pleasant Swim In Tidy Surroundings (2021)

Every pool owner can relate to the struggle of keeping the pool clean, especially when algae starts to grow on the side. Of course, you can clean your pool using skimmers, but they hardly get the job done right. Here, our experts teach you how to use a pool vacuum, the industry's standard pool maintenance gear.

How to Use a Pool Vacuum

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use a pool vacuum to clean a pool:

Prepare and Assemble Vacuum

To get your pool clean and sparkly with a pool vacuum or first-rated robotic pool cleaner, you'll first need to assemble the vacuum itself. For that process, you'll need the following:

• A vacuum plate/skim vac
• A flexible pool hose
• An adjustable vacuum head
• A telescoping pool pole

Once you've gotten these materials together, you need to assemble them and prepare them for use in your pool. Here's how:

• Attach the vacuum head to the open end of the telescopic pole/telescoping pole.
• Attach one end of your flexible hose to the vacuum head. If the hose slips off frequently and disrupts your work, you can use a hose clamp. It would help you to keep the hose in place throughout the cleaning process.
• Place the telescoping pole, vacuum head, and hose into the pool. You want to get all three parts right down to the bottom for the vacuum head to rest on the pool floor. 
• Make sure that the filter and pump are running. Then, put the other end of the hose against the return jet in the shallow end of the pool. Placing the return jet in the pool with one end of the hose will push water through the vacuum hose and force all the air out. 
• Keep in mind that while the air is getting pushed out underwater, air bubbles will come up from the vacuum head. Your first sign that the air is all out is when bubbles no longer pop up.
• If you're not yet using the vacuum plate, take away the basket inside the skimmer. Then, use your hand to block the end of the hose that's filled up with water. Once safely secured, put the hose into the skimmer. At this point, you have to be careful to make sure that the vacuum hose goes right into the suction hole at the skimmer's bottom.
• However, if you're using your vacuum plate, fix it to the part of the hose you initially put against the return jet. Then, block the opening and bring it to the skimmer. 

Remember that you must create a good seal, or suction would be impossible here. Nevertheless, if you lose suction after you block the opening, repeat steps four and five.

Vacuum Your Pool

To properly vacuum your pool, begin vacuuming at the shallow end and slowly work your way towards the deep end. This is important to ensure that you perform a thorough job.

• Use long, slow, and sweeping strokes to move the vacuum with the vacuum hose.
• Overlap every stroke a little while vacuuming. This helps to make sure that you don't leave any dirt and debris behind while cleaning in any pool filter setting.

Besides all these, our experts emphasize to take your time when you vacuum your pool. If you go too fast, you'll kick up debris from the floor of the pool. This will reduce your visibility and wouldn't settle down for another couple of hours, making your vacuuming process longer than it should be. 

Naturally, unintentionally kicking up debris from the bottom of the pool is almost inevitable even when you are using top caliber product like the Aquabot Breeze 4WD, especially if the pool is very dirty. But, you can reduce the likelihood of it happening by going slow when you need to vacuum.

If the water becomes too cloudy to continue, you'll need to take a break. This is to enable you to see the bottom of your pool when you need to vacuum. You can always come back in a couple of hours and begin the vacuuming process. 

Another issue you might face your vacuum head getting stuck in one position during the cleaning process. If this happens, our tea suggests to turn off your pump for a second. This will break the vacuum force and release your pool vacuum.

Detach Vacuum Head

When you're done vacuuming your pool, the next step is to detach your vacuum head. This part is fairly simple. Simply do the reverse of what you had to do when attaching it in the first place. That is, carefully remove it from the telescopic end of the vacuum pole. Once you've gotten it off that end of the vacuum, drain any water left in the vacuum hose.

Clean With Brush

After vacuuming your pool, you've got the major part of the work done. But, you still have a bit more to do to get your pool as clean as possible. So, after removing the vacuum head, attach a cleaning brush to the pole. 

Once attached, use the brush to thoroughly scrub off any algae, debris, or dirt from the poolside. Unless you're getting robotic pool cleaners, this might be a bit physically demanding, depending on how large your pool is. It is okay to take a few breaks in between. But it's nothing you can't handle with your manual pool vacuum and brush.

However, keep in mind that you can only use the normal filter setting to clean out light or moderate levels of pool dirt. In the normal filter setting, contaminated water is sent through the pool filter to remove the contaminants. Then, the filtered freshwater goes back into the pool through the return lines. 

However, when your pool is heavily contaminated, it's best to set your multiport filter system to "Drain" or "Waste." In this setting, the contaminated water is simply disposed of while cleaning your pool instead of being redirected. However, once you're done cleaning your pool, you will have to add fresh water to your pool.

If you happen to have a green pool, follow these guide on how to clean green pool, as well. Read next! 

Test Pool Water

After completing everything above and you are ensured that it is now longer an unsatisfying cloudy pool water, you can't be 100% certain that your pool is spotless until you test it. That's where this step comes in. 

In reality, there are several things you can test for in your pool. These include chlorine[1], alkalinity and pH, bacteria, etc. You can use test strips, digital kits, or liquid kits to confirm your pool's safety after cleaning it.

Now, there are so many different test kits for different pool tests. For that reason, you must read the instructions on your kit properly. Some might be as simple as inserting a test strip into a few drops of your pool water. Others might be a little more complicated. Regardless of what the situation is, make sure that you follow the instructions to the letter.

Once you're done testing, you can then decide whether you want to take steps to balance your pool's chemistry or it's fine the way it is.

Pool Cleanliness Maintenance

Once you've learned how to use a pool vacuum and your pool is all ready for use, you need to maintain it properly. That way, you wouldn't have to go through the rigorous process of deep cleaning it every time. You can always use the top-rated above ground robotic cleaner to help maintain your pool regularly.  

Our team came up with the following tips would be useful in this regard:

1. Always check your pool chemistry: Keeping up to date about your pool chemistry can save you a lot of trouble. You'll know when to step into the pool and when you need to add a bit more chlorine to keep it safe. Thankfully, some different tools and kits can help you to do this.
2. Empty your skimmer basket often: The skimmer basket is usually installed at the sides of the pool. Its main function is to skim the pool's surface and prevent debris from settling at the bottom of your pool. To keep your swimming pool clean and healthy, empty the basket as often as possible. Ensure that there is no dirt stuck at the bottom of the skimmer. 
3. Keep your water quantity at moderate levels: Especially if your water level is too high, the skimmer wouldn't be able to do its job on the surface properly. In the end, you'll have more debris settling at the bottom, polluting your swimming pool.
4. Clean out the lint and hair pot: This part of your swimming pool is inside your pump. It helps to collect dirt and debris that the skimmer missed. You should clean it out every few weeks if you want to get a healthy, clean pool.
5. Don't shock the pool every chance you get: Indeed, shocking can help keep your pool clean. But, if you must do it, do it at night when no one will use the swimming pool, and the sun can't reduce the shock's effectiveness. An alternative is to use a non-chlorine shock so that you can swim as soon as you want.

FAQ

The setting you use when vacuuming a pool is the normal filter setting. However, this only applies if you're cleaning out light or moderate amounts of debris in your swimming pool. Heavier amounts of dirt should use the "Drain" or "Waste" filter setting.

How often you vacuum your pool depends largely on its usage frequency. If you continuously have people getting into the swimming pool, it's a good idea to vacuum it weekly. 

Conclusion

Having a swimming pool, ground pool, or any type of pool instantly makes your house a lot more fun and relaxing. But pool maintenance can sometimes be a bit of a task, especially if you do not have a robotic pool cleaner/automatic pool cleaner. That's why our experts highly recommend you to learn how to use a pool vacuum to maintain cleanliness. 

For other options, you can also consider using our top pick Aquabot pool cleaner in maintaining your pool. Read next!