They are pretty to look at, gives you a nice shade, and a nice breeze. Oh! But they can be soooooo messssssssy! If you have trees surrounding your swimming pool, then, you probably have a love/hate relationship with them. Even if you always keep them trimmed, those leaves always seem to find a way to fall into your pool. In some cases, your pool may end up with a carpet of leaves at the bottom and a thick layer still floating on top.
The fall season is upon us. If you don’t want to go through the difficult task of cleaning your “teacup” pool, we advise you to read on and find out methods to get those leaves off the surface quickly, and the best way for dredging leaves from the bottom of the pool.
How to Keep Leaves Out of the Pool
- Leaf Net – Lay this over the top or your pool. This can keep the leaves out effectively. Leaf nets can be held in place using deck anchors to ensure the net stays in place. There are also other types of leaf nets that can stay in place with just a thin rope, tied to a fence or with tent stakes.
- Trim the Trees – Trim your trees every 4 to 5 years and prune every fall. This will help keep the workload of leaf removal down. You can purchase tree pruners at your local hardware store. Most tree pruners from the hardware store come with poles up-to 12 to 16 feet.
- Automatic Pool Covers – We know that most Texans don’t cover their swimming pools. However, installing an automatic pool cover comes in handy when you don’t have your pool in use, and it can help to keep it clean too. Auto pool covers will help keep the leaves out of the pool….PERIOD!!! The cleaning process is easier than cleaning the pool. One way is to pump most water off, then, as you roll up the cover, use a hose or a leaf blower to clean off the cover as it comes out of the pool. Using a pool brush on a pole can help push the leaves and water to one area, where a leaf rake on a pole can scoop them out faster than having them spread over the entire cover.
- Hedges, Fences and Other Windbreaks – Surprisingly enough, hedges and fences are not only for privacy, but they can also help to block wind from blowing across the oasis. This part of your backyard landscaping, bushes, ground covers, and decorative fencing can help keep the leaves up against a barrier, keeping the leaves out of the pool.
How to Effectively Remove Leaves from the Pool
If you find leaves on the pool’s surface, remove them quickly before they sink. Here are some ways to avoid leaves from sinking to the bottom of your pool:
- Reduce the suction from the main drain of the pool. This way, the skimmers can pull strongly. If there are two skimmers, you may need to adjust the valves to equalize their suction. How do you make it work? Open the far skimmer to 100% and open the skimmer near you to 75% in order to adjust for the closeness to the pool pump. This will help to keep leaves from sinking.
- Make sure that your skimmer weir is in place. Skimmer weirs improve the speed of the water flowing into the skimmer, and when the pump shuts off, the skimmer weir floats to a vertical position, trapping leaves inside of the skimmer.
- If you have problems with broken skimmer baskets, from too many hard-packed leaves, try a clog-less skimmer basket. This innovative device keeps the water flowing through the pump, even when it is full!
- Keep the water level at mid tile, don’t allow rain to raise the water level so much that the leaves have trouble entering the mouth of the skimmer.
Skimmer Net
A deep pocket skimmer net is ideal to remove leaves from the bottom of the pool. This allows you to push the skimmer net across the floor and scoop up the leaves. It takes a little practice, but eventually, it gets the work done. This is a good method for removing leaves from your pool for those who don’t have any back problems.
If you do happen to have any back problems, then the Swivel Skim is the pool skimmer for you. You don’t need to twist nor do any quick-flips as done with a deep pocket skimmer. You just use it as you would use a vacuum for your pool, simply push and pull.
Leaf Master
Another great tool to remove leaves from the pool is a Leaf Master, a piece that connects to a garden hose and a pool pole. It has a large bag attached to the top, and the pressure from the garden hose sprays dozens of jets upward into the bag. The greater the hose pressure is, the faster it will clean the leaves out of your pool.
In-Line Leaf Trap
If your pump is large enough to vacuum manually, but you’re tired of stopping every 5 minutes to clean out the pump basket, an in-line leaf strainer can be the answer. Just attach the incoming port to the end of the vacuum hose. The in-line leaf trap is very large, probably equal to 20 pump baskets full. It can also be used with suction side automatic pool cleaners. If you are looking for a real time saver, this is the way to go.
We hope these tips will help you keep your pool’s water in optimum condition during the fall and winter months. Remember that our team at Platinum Pools is ready to help you with any questions and all other pool-related inquiries. Call us at 1.281.870.1600 (Houston), 1.409.898.4995 (Beaumont), or 1.361.575.0183 (Victoria). Our team of pool experts is ready to help.