Vacuuming is the most boring part of swimming pool maintenance, and yet one that needs to be done from time to time even if you have an automatic cleaner. In the Sonoran Desert, during the so called summer monsoon season, dust storms can arrive every evening. Sometimes, several developing thunderheads are scattered around. Each one will send out a dust storm. Sometimes these thunderheads coalesce into one huge monster of a storm. These will just trash your pool up way beyond the load capacity of your automatic cleaner. There is no commercially available cleaner that can take kind of load. So that is why all pool owners and pool service professionals need to have vacuuming and netting equipment.
As these storms begin to occur, there is really no way to know just how severe they will become. So I would recommend that the swimming pool be turned on if it is not already running. If you have followed my blog posts from the beginning you know that I prefer to have the time clock set to run the pool in the evening hours anyway. If the storm becomes really severe however, you might as well just turn the pool off, since the skimmer, the main drain, and the automatic cleaner will all probably get plugged up with debris. No one likes to repeatedly empty out the skimmer basket, or the automatic cleaner while it is lightning and thundering! In this case, commonsense tells you to just let the debris in the pool accumulate and then settle to the bottom of the pool over night. You can get to work, in the morning !
The swimming pool cleaning sequence that you want to follow here is basically the same for a pool that is lightly or heavily trashed up. It's just that it will take much longer to complete the cleaning with a trashed pool.
The first step is to turn the pool on at the time clock, then walk over to the skimmer and remove the lid. Look into the skimmer basket. Always look first to be sure a critter of some sort is not in the basket area. Reach down and lift out the basket, it probably would be a good idea to wear some latex gloves while you are doing this. I have seen people fashion a wire clothes hanger as a hooking tool to lift out the basket, you can try that if you wish. Clean the basket out by tapping it on a fence or large rock and if necessary, rinse it out with a garden hose. Check the basket visually to see if there are any holes or cracks in it, if so, then go ahead and buy a new one.
Next, remove the diverter valve, look to it's underside to be sure that the flap is in place, check also that the float is moving freely. At this point, I usually put my fingers down into the skimmer and let the suction line pull on them, just to get a good reading on whats going on with the upstream equipment. If it feels like the suction line is going to pull my fingers off, then the pump and filter are probably OK. Replace the diverter valve, be sure that it sets flat against the o-ring on the bottom of the skimmer housing. Now put the skimmer basket back into place. Look to see that the weir is moving freely and that it is in it's proper place. Remember to look first before you put your hand into the weir area!
If you did the "fingers in the suction pipe test" you already know that things are OK upstream. If you didn't do that test, then you can check now to see that the action of the skimmer is good. You should be able to see a very good flow into it. If there is not a good flow of water into the skimmer, or if the suction in the "the fingers in the suction pipe test" felt weak, then the pump strainer basket may be full, or the filter needs to be backwashed, or if it is a DE filter it may need to be manually cleaned out, or a host of other problems may be the culprit. But for now, put the lid back on the skimmer and walk over to the equipment area and turn the pump motor off.
Unscrew the lid to the pump strainer basket housing, it may be tight. If you are using your hands, try turning it very slowly with steadily increasing force. If it is stuck, you can buy a pump lid wrench removal tool. The one I like is the metal one with a rectangular loop that fits around most lids. With the lid wrench, you still will use the "turning very slowly with steadily increasing force" technique. When you get the lid off, check that the rubber o-ring that it rests against is in good shape. Often there is a sticky goo that forms on this o-ring or in the groove within which it fits. Either of which may cause an suction side air leak, causing the pump to lose it's ability to pull the water from the pool. You can wipe the goo off with a warm, wet wash cloth or rag. If after the goo is wiped off, a lot of rubberized dirt comes off the 0-ring onto the wash cloth, then the o-ring is worn also, replace it with a new one. The next time you are in your local pool store go ahead and pick up a tube of Magic Lube, this is the lubricant that you want to put on the o-ring and the groove that it fits into. Accept no substitutes here, if the pool store doesn't have it, go to another one. Lubricate the o-ring, the groove that it sits in, and the screw like threads on the plastic lid.
Most newer pumps have "see through" plastic lids that enable you to look into the pump strainer basket to judge how full it is. From time to time check that this lid has not developed a crack that again may be letting air into the system, these can be difficult to see. Sometimes, there is a hole or crack in the pump basket housing area with the same negative result.
Lift out the pump strainer basket by grasping the metal wire handle and turning the basket while it is still in the pump. There will be two notches on the plastic basket that will line up with slots inside the pumps basket housing. Once you have the basket lined up, you can simply pull the basket out. If the handle is missing, or the basket warped, replace the basket. As I have said before, it makes this job a lot easier if you buy a second basket so you can let one basket dry out, and later easily dump the contents. Either way, inspect the pump strainer basket for cracks or holes, replace the basket if necessary.
[Whenever I have had a service call or repair call where the problem is that the pump's impeller is plugged, I immediately know that there is a good chance that the pump strainer basket or the skimmer basket probably has a hole or crack in it. Sometimes the service person or home owner did not take the time to see that the pump strainer basket was properly seated. In this situation also many times it is the skimmer basket that has not been seated properly or sometimes the skimmer basket begins to float when the pump is off, and when the next pump cycle starts up, it is pulled down by the water flow and rests cock-eyed letting debris to get around it. The solution for a floating skimmer basket is to replace it with one that is weighted at the bottom. I have often put a rock in the bottom of the skimmer basket to weight it down. Just be sure that the rock you use is much bigger than the diameter of the suction pipe at the bottom of the skimmer housing].
Now, put the pump strainer basket back in and don't forget to put the o-ring back in! I have several times been called out to a repair call where the only problem was that the pump lid o-ring was not put back in! Screw the lid back on. Do not bear down with a lot of force while screwing the lid back on! When lubricated properly, a hand tightened lid is sufficient. If you use your new lid wrench to do this, then you are going to be forced to use the lid wrench the next time you want to take the lid off. Turn the pool pump back on. Most modern pumps will suck air from the line going back to the skimmer in order to start the water flowing again. If the pump doesn't pull up the water, or if you don't have a modern pump, you may need to prime the pump at this point by pouring water into the pump basket area before putting the lid back on and starting the pump.
Once both the skimmer basket and the pump strainer basket have been serviced, and the water flow has started again, you will want to let some of the air that accumulates at the inside top of the filter out. So it is time to look at the pressure gauge that rests on top of the filter. There should be a small valve that you can turn to open. This valve is known a an air relief valve. If you open this valve, the air will begin to be released, followed later by water. Once the water shows up the air is obviously out of the filter and you can close the air relief valve. If this valve is stuck, then you can use some WD-40 and a small pair of pliers to work it loose. Be careful here. These valves are fragile. Use minimal force.
If your pool is really trashed up, and you own a sand filter or a cartridge filter, then you are going to want to backwash, or clean the the filter before you begin to vacuum. If you own a DE filter then you may need only to note the pressure as indicated on the pressure gauge, and later decide (after noting the resulting pressure increase), whether a backwash or clean out is necessary. In a later post having to do with filtration this step will be covered in much more detail.
For now however, walk back to the swimming pool, and while the pool pump is running, use your leaf bag to net out most of the surface debris. This in itself can be quite laborious, (remember to use the technique I talked about in an earlier post). If the pool bottom is really trashed then clean out the bottom of pool with the Jandy Leaf Master and then later when the dirt and dust have settled back down you can vacuum.
If the pool's bottom does not have a lot of debris, then you can prepare to vacuum. Bring out and begin to assemble the vacuum equipment. The vacuum hose, as well as the vacuum head should have been stored out of the reach of sunlight. The vacuum hose should have been stored in a circular pattern, to facilitate the assembling and vacuuming process.
While holding on to the part of the vacuum hose that is going to be attached to the vacuum head, push the rest of the hose (which should still have the stored circular shape) into the pool. Attach the vacuum hose to the vacuum head, then attach the pool pole to the vacuum head. Then push the vacuum head with the pool pole attached, into the deep end of the pool. While still loosely holding on, let the vacuum hose slide through your hand, feeding it from the remaining circular shape floating on the pool's surface, thereby dropping the vacuum head and the pole to the bottom of the pool. This will pull the vacuum hose down also. The vacuum hose should now be filled partially with water, and you, kneeling along side the pool, can push the yet unfilled portion of the vacuum hose directly downward into the water. When you have pushed the vacuum hose all the way in, water should start to come out of the end of the hose. (This is an advance technique, which again will be covered in a later post), an alternative technique is to fill the remaining empty vacuum hose with water by placing it up against an inlet jet. You need to fill the vacuum hose completely in one way or another so as to minimize the amount of air that will be introduced into the pump.
At this point, after the vacuum hose is filled with water, drag the end of the vacuum hose over to the skimmer, kneel down and put the hose into the suction pipe that leads back to the pump. You have a choice here, you can either put the vacuum hose over the deck and then into the skimmer suction pipe or you can put it in through the front of the skimmer, laying the vacuum hose on top of the weir. Even when you have done everything correctly, there is still always some air that is unavoidably introduced into the suction pipe. Wait until it has cleared the pump, then you are ready to begin to vacuum.
Use the pole to pull the vacuum head out of the deep end of the pool and start vacuuming the steps in the shallow end. This accomplishes two things. One, by starting in the shallow end and gradually moving to the deep end, the vacuum head is going to be much easier to handle. After all, you are going to be going downhill, (gravity here is our friend once again). Do you want to start vacuuming in the deep end and try to move that heavy vacuum head uphill? I think not.
Two, you want to save the worst of the debris and dirt for last, otherwise the suction for the whole job is going to be diminished, and where is that pile of dirt likely to be? Yup! At the bottom of the pool, so don't vacuum there first. So always start your vacuuming job in the shallow end of your pool.
This vacuuming process can be facilitated by the use of a swiveling type of connector that maybe already attached to your vacuum head. You can buy a vacuum head with or without a swivel connector. If you buy a vacuum head with a swivel connector then you can steer the vacuum head by twisting the pole as you move the vacuum head forwards or backwards.
If you purchase the type of vacuum head without a swivel connector, you can still move it over easily by using the following technique: As you push the vacuum head forward and you reach the other side of the pool, you will need to move it over to pick up more dirt. The best way to do this is to snap the pole back towards you, lifting the vacuum head momentarily off the floor of the pool, as it is still suspended, snap the pole in the direction opposite to where you want the vacuum head to go. The pole will act as a lever, with the fulcrum in the middle. In other words, if you snap the pole to your left, then the vacuum head will move to the right and if you snap the pole to your right, then the vacuum head will move to the left. Again, this needs to be done while the vacuum head is momentarily suspended. After you have drawn the vacuum head all the way back so that it is nearly under you, go ahead and lift it up slowly to clean the wall of the pool, then move it over to start again. Continue until the pool is cleaned.
You may have to clean the pump strainer basket out, backwash, and vacuum several times before the pool is cleaned up. This process will cause some of the dirt and dust to be suspended into the water again. Wait for a day or so, until the dust and dirt have again settled to the bottom of the pool and repeat the process, or begin to use your automatic cleaner.
This completes the cleaning subsection of the sanitation classification, that rests upon the top of our imaginary Golden Triangle. In the next post, we will consider the other subsection of sanitation which is disinfection.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Automatic Cleaners, Continued
Pressure Side Cleaners
A pressure side cleaner uses either water provided by the pool pump or a smaller booster pump to move about and accomplish it's job.
Arneson Pool Sweep
One of the first pressure side systems that I knew of was called an Arneson Pool Sweep. Anthony Pools in the 1960's and 1970's used this pool cleaner almost exclusively in the pools they built. This cleaner had a floating water propelled head to which several tentacle-like plastic tubes dangled down onto the floor of the pool, which in turn stirred up the dirt on the bottom of the pool, it did clean the pool to a degree, but not as well as the Master Pool system.
Jandy Porpoise
Another pressure side cleaner that was popular during the 1980's and early 1990's was the Jandy Porpoise, this device was usually driven by a ½ horsepower booster pump. This device was attached to a long hose that ran back to a fitting on the side of the pool. This cleaner had the fastest underwater speed of any automatic cleaner, it did indeed move around the pool like a porpoise. A stream of water came out the back of the device to propel it forward. There was a short whip attached, as well as jetted connectors placed every three feet, to hold the sections of the trailing feed hose together, and help stir up the dirt and debris, unfortunately for all of it's high speed activity, it did not do a very good job, but was better than nothing. Because of it's high rate of speed, the outer edges and head ball wore down quickly. Jandy did make a version of the Porpoise that did not have a booster pump, it ran by having a valve just after the pool pump, diverting unfiltered water to the cleaner. This type of Jandy cleaner never had enough pressure to work properly, and just put dirty water back into the pool, like the Paddock Pool's pop-up system did earlier.
A lot of my customers enjoyed watching the Jandy Porpoise move around the pool, and resisted my attempts to change them over to the best pressure side cleaner, the Polaris cleaner.
Polaris
The Polaris line of pressure side cleaners were the first pressure side cleaner that really made a noticeable difference as far as saving time and effort for the pool owner or service professional. Of all the pools that I had on my service route , the pools that I had been able to convert over to the Polaris pressure side cleaner, were always in good shape when I showed up and almost never needed to be vacuumed! Let me tell you I was really happy with that cleaner!
However, even this cleaner had some downsides. It was really finicky to set up. It was driven by a jet of water turning a water wheel type of turbine located near the center of the device. This jet of water picked dirt and debris up off of the pool's floor and deposited it into a net type bag on top of the device. It also had a rear facing jet as well, with three large wheels that were driven by the turbine.
As I have stated before, one of the problems with this cleaner was that was really finicky to initially set up. Getting everything balanced just right so it could climb walls was a pain. There was a float attached that had to be adjusted forward and backward to keep the nose of the device down, otherwise it liked to move forward with it's nose in the upward position.
There was also an adjustable rear jet that had be set just so, in order for the Polaris to be able to climb out of the deep end of the pool, if this jet was not pointing in the right direction then it would make continuous circles and never climb out. Annoyingly, customers would often make their own adjustments, throwing everything out of whack.
Another big problem with the Polaris was the tail whip, in order for it to be able to swing back and forth to deliver a sufficient jet of water to stir up dirt, the tail whip had to be fed a certain amount of water, as the cleaner climbed to the top of the pool wall and reached the line of tile, it would turn itself over to go back down into the pool, spraying water simultaneously into the air, from the tail whip, often times getting the decks wet as well as windows, and Arcadia doors. Sometimes, customers or I would be standing alongside the pool and be startled by the squirt. Polaris tried to address that problem by making a weight for that tail whip, but that slowed down the cleaning action tremendously, I never really found a solution to that problem. The best I could do is to never install a Polaris in a pool that was too close to the house.
Suction Side Cleaners
Kreepy Krauly
The Kreepy Krauly was the first automatic suction side cleaner. It was developed in 1974 by a South African father and son team, an hydraulics engineer by the name of Ferdinand Chauvier and his son, Daniel. Several million of these Kreepys have been sold internationally, Ferdinand Chauvier died in 1985. His son Daniel sold the company to PacFab which later became Pentair Pool Products.
When I saw this device for the first time I thought that it looked like some science fiction, alien type of life form. It still looks weird to me, and the name fits. Kreepy Krauly. The device moves about driven forward by a diaphragm that momentarily shuts of all the water that is flowing through it and snapping or perhaps vibrating the device forward, it does this more than several times a second. This device is big, noisy and ugly, but it does clean a pool and it has only one moving part! However, it will not clean steps, or the love seat area. At times, it will get stuck in a corner, wedge itself somewhere, or it will sometimes adhere to a wall that is uneven. When it adheres to a wall, the pump may be starved for water unless a special valve has been installed at the skimmer.
This cleaner has a very bad habit of wanting to come out and above the pool surface to start sucking air, and then not wanting to go back down until the whole hose and pipe running back to the pump is full of air! Once the pump loses its water, then the device sinks back into the pool, and the poor pump churns away trying to pull water from that great distance. Sometimes, it fails to draw water and overheats. At a minimum, there will be distortions in the pump housing or suction side piping causing air suction leaks. So the upshot here is that this is a cleaner that works, however, it will need to be continuously monitored when in use.
Not many pool service professionals install this type cleaner because of the headaches that come along with it. It is just too unwieldy. The majority of these devices are purchased by the pool owners themselves and just placed in the skimmer. My customers from time to time have purchased this cleaner without consulting me. I have had to ask them to take it back. If they refuse, I list for them the problems that will occur. If they still insist on keeping the device I had to let them go. Sometimes, the skimmer is shut down permanently by the customers action, and the pool owners neglect to remove the device once the cleaning job is finished. There are plastic covers that have been developed that cover the skimmer basket to which the 'Kreepy” can be attached, whereby the flow rate from either the Kreepy or the skimmer can be regulated, but they are not commonly seen and don't work very well.
I have complained to the Kreepy Krauly field representative about the device slowing down or stopping the skimming action altogether due to regularly improper installation by pool owners and received the retort: “Well you can't have everything! Which segways into my biggest gripe about all suction side cleaners and that is that they slow down the total circulation of the swimming pool. When you ask the pool pump to drive one of these devices that is the result.
The work around has been to install a dedicated line for these devices that runs back to the pool pump. By installing a Jandy 3-Way valve just in front of the pool's pump, you can easily control the amount of water that is coming from the suction side cleaner and how much water is coming from the skimmer. You can if you wish, turn the skimmer completely off and have all the water pulled from the cleaner or completely shut off the cleaner and have all the water pulled from the skimmer. This is a workable solution for all the suction side cleaners.
Hayward Pool Vac
The other suction side cleaner that I am going to talk about is the Hayward Pool Vac, originally called the Arneson Pool Vac. This is the best of the suction side pool cleaners. It is driven by a turbine located near the center of the device, just above the intake orifice. As the turbine spins the internal mechanism drives toggling foot pads or pods that rock back and forth very quickly and enable the device to move forward. Assuming that you have enough suction from your pump this device really cleans up the pool nicely. I always liked to install a in-line leaf canister with this cleaner, since doing that increased it's ability to clean up a really messy pool. If this device is installed on a pool that has a strong pump and if that pool has a dedicated line for the Hayward Pool Vac, I do not have any reservations in recommending this cleaner. Just be sure to install a in-line leaf canister to catch the leaves and debris before thy get to the pump.
Some things to be aware of here is that small rocks can be sucked up by the Hayward Pool Vac, either plugging or jamming up the turbine. So if the cleaner suddenly stops working, that is the first place you want to look. Also,(and this goes for all the suction side cleaners), if the cleaner stops working or seems to have not a lot of energy, check the hose line for cracks or tears, the pump maybe pulling water from these holes instead of the cleaner.
Also the pipe running back to the pump may have become plugged with debris, this happens frequently when any suction side cleaner is used without a leaf canister attached. What happens in this case is that a twig or something similar gets stuck in the pipe inside of a pipe elbow and then smaller more pliable debris begin to wrap themselves around the twig or more rigid obstruction. This will continue until the flow to the pump has ceased.
I remember one time I got a call from a pool owner who already had a rotor rooter guy out who tried to clear out the skimmer line- to no avail. I brought my tank of carbon dioxide gas to blow out the line. As I blew out the line, quite a bit of garbage came out, but it wasn't completely clear. So, the customer and I resorted to using a toilet plunger, we took turns with it and after a few minutes, out pops a small toy car. It just goes to show you that sometimes a low tech solution works! That was the first and last time I had to use a toilet plunger on a swimming pool!
One last word on suction side cleaners: WARNING: Do not use your cleaner to clean a clean pool! Whew! In other words, don't run the cleaner all of the time. Just run it when the pool is dirty. It won't wear out as quickly.
Robotic Cleaners
Robotic cleaners are the newest thing on the market as far as automatic cleaners are concerned. They are driven by household current that has been converted to low voltage. Because these robotic cleaners have their own built-in filter, the use of the primary filter is reduced. If the pool pump is turned off, and after several hours, any suspended dirt particulates will have settled to the bottom of the pool, and then when the robotic cleaner is turned back on, the effect is enhanced and the primary filter's usage will be reduced further. These cleaners are able to be adjusted so that they can clean tile too.
Some of the robotic cleaners can be steered from poolside controls. The only downside here that I can see is that these cleaners are very expensive, up to $1400. The last point to remember here is that you can't avoid some work when you use any of these automatic cleaners. You will still need to clean and service the cleaner.
A pressure side cleaner uses either water provided by the pool pump or a smaller booster pump to move about and accomplish it's job.
Arneson Pool Sweep
One of the first pressure side systems that I knew of was called an Arneson Pool Sweep. Anthony Pools in the 1960's and 1970's used this pool cleaner almost exclusively in the pools they built. This cleaner had a floating water propelled head to which several tentacle-like plastic tubes dangled down onto the floor of the pool, which in turn stirred up the dirt on the bottom of the pool, it did clean the pool to a degree, but not as well as the Master Pool system.
Jandy Porpoise
Another pressure side cleaner that was popular during the 1980's and early 1990's was the Jandy Porpoise, this device was usually driven by a ½ horsepower booster pump. This device was attached to a long hose that ran back to a fitting on the side of the pool. This cleaner had the fastest underwater speed of any automatic cleaner, it did indeed move around the pool like a porpoise. A stream of water came out the back of the device to propel it forward. There was a short whip attached, as well as jetted connectors placed every three feet, to hold the sections of the trailing feed hose together, and help stir up the dirt and debris, unfortunately for all of it's high speed activity, it did not do a very good job, but was better than nothing. Because of it's high rate of speed, the outer edges and head ball wore down quickly. Jandy did make a version of the Porpoise that did not have a booster pump, it ran by having a valve just after the pool pump, diverting unfiltered water to the cleaner. This type of Jandy cleaner never had enough pressure to work properly, and just put dirty water back into the pool, like the Paddock Pool's pop-up system did earlier.
A lot of my customers enjoyed watching the Jandy Porpoise move around the pool, and resisted my attempts to change them over to the best pressure side cleaner, the Polaris cleaner.
Polaris
The Polaris line of pressure side cleaners were the first pressure side cleaner that really made a noticeable difference as far as saving time and effort for the pool owner or service professional. Of all the pools that I had on my service route , the pools that I had been able to convert over to the Polaris pressure side cleaner, were always in good shape when I showed up and almost never needed to be vacuumed! Let me tell you I was really happy with that cleaner!
However, even this cleaner had some downsides. It was really finicky to set up. It was driven by a jet of water turning a water wheel type of turbine located near the center of the device. This jet of water picked dirt and debris up off of the pool's floor and deposited it into a net type bag on top of the device. It also had a rear facing jet as well, with three large wheels that were driven by the turbine.
As I have stated before, one of the problems with this cleaner was that was really finicky to initially set up. Getting everything balanced just right so it could climb walls was a pain. There was a float attached that had to be adjusted forward and backward to keep the nose of the device down, otherwise it liked to move forward with it's nose in the upward position.
There was also an adjustable rear jet that had be set just so, in order for the Polaris to be able to climb out of the deep end of the pool, if this jet was not pointing in the right direction then it would make continuous circles and never climb out. Annoyingly, customers would often make their own adjustments, throwing everything out of whack.
Another big problem with the Polaris was the tail whip, in order for it to be able to swing back and forth to deliver a sufficient jet of water to stir up dirt, the tail whip had to be fed a certain amount of water, as the cleaner climbed to the top of the pool wall and reached the line of tile, it would turn itself over to go back down into the pool, spraying water simultaneously into the air, from the tail whip, often times getting the decks wet as well as windows, and Arcadia doors. Sometimes, customers or I would be standing alongside the pool and be startled by the squirt. Polaris tried to address that problem by making a weight for that tail whip, but that slowed down the cleaning action tremendously, I never really found a solution to that problem. The best I could do is to never install a Polaris in a pool that was too close to the house.
Suction Side Cleaners
Kreepy Krauly
The Kreepy Krauly was the first automatic suction side cleaner. It was developed in 1974 by a South African father and son team, an hydraulics engineer by the name of Ferdinand Chauvier and his son, Daniel. Several million of these Kreepys have been sold internationally, Ferdinand Chauvier died in 1985. His son Daniel sold the company to PacFab which later became Pentair Pool Products.
When I saw this device for the first time I thought that it looked like some science fiction, alien type of life form. It still looks weird to me, and the name fits. Kreepy Krauly. The device moves about driven forward by a diaphragm that momentarily shuts of all the water that is flowing through it and snapping or perhaps vibrating the device forward, it does this more than several times a second. This device is big, noisy and ugly, but it does clean a pool and it has only one moving part! However, it will not clean steps, or the love seat area. At times, it will get stuck in a corner, wedge itself somewhere, or it will sometimes adhere to a wall that is uneven. When it adheres to a wall, the pump may be starved for water unless a special valve has been installed at the skimmer.
This cleaner has a very bad habit of wanting to come out and above the pool surface to start sucking air, and then not wanting to go back down until the whole hose and pipe running back to the pump is full of air! Once the pump loses its water, then the device sinks back into the pool, and the poor pump churns away trying to pull water from that great distance. Sometimes, it fails to draw water and overheats. At a minimum, there will be distortions in the pump housing or suction side piping causing air suction leaks. So the upshot here is that this is a cleaner that works, however, it will need to be continuously monitored when in use.
Not many pool service professionals install this type cleaner because of the headaches that come along with it. It is just too unwieldy. The majority of these devices are purchased by the pool owners themselves and just placed in the skimmer. My customers from time to time have purchased this cleaner without consulting me. I have had to ask them to take it back. If they refuse, I list for them the problems that will occur. If they still insist on keeping the device I had to let them go. Sometimes, the skimmer is shut down permanently by the customers action, and the pool owners neglect to remove the device once the cleaning job is finished. There are plastic covers that have been developed that cover the skimmer basket to which the 'Kreepy” can be attached, whereby the flow rate from either the Kreepy or the skimmer can be regulated, but they are not commonly seen and don't work very well.
I have complained to the Kreepy Krauly field representative about the device slowing down or stopping the skimming action altogether due to regularly improper installation by pool owners and received the retort: “Well you can't have everything! Which segways into my biggest gripe about all suction side cleaners and that is that they slow down the total circulation of the swimming pool. When you ask the pool pump to drive one of these devices that is the result.
The work around has been to install a dedicated line for these devices that runs back to the pool pump. By installing a Jandy 3-Way valve just in front of the pool's pump, you can easily control the amount of water that is coming from the suction side cleaner and how much water is coming from the skimmer. You can if you wish, turn the skimmer completely off and have all the water pulled from the cleaner or completely shut off the cleaner and have all the water pulled from the skimmer. This is a workable solution for all the suction side cleaners.
Hayward Pool Vac
The other suction side cleaner that I am going to talk about is the Hayward Pool Vac, originally called the Arneson Pool Vac. This is the best of the suction side pool cleaners. It is driven by a turbine located near the center of the device, just above the intake orifice. As the turbine spins the internal mechanism drives toggling foot pads or pods that rock back and forth very quickly and enable the device to move forward. Assuming that you have enough suction from your pump this device really cleans up the pool nicely. I always liked to install a in-line leaf canister with this cleaner, since doing that increased it's ability to clean up a really messy pool. If this device is installed on a pool that has a strong pump and if that pool has a dedicated line for the Hayward Pool Vac, I do not have any reservations in recommending this cleaner. Just be sure to install a in-line leaf canister to catch the leaves and debris before thy get to the pump.
Some things to be aware of here is that small rocks can be sucked up by the Hayward Pool Vac, either plugging or jamming up the turbine. So if the cleaner suddenly stops working, that is the first place you want to look. Also,(and this goes for all the suction side cleaners), if the cleaner stops working or seems to have not a lot of energy, check the hose line for cracks or tears, the pump maybe pulling water from these holes instead of the cleaner.
Also the pipe running back to the pump may have become plugged with debris, this happens frequently when any suction side cleaner is used without a leaf canister attached. What happens in this case is that a twig or something similar gets stuck in the pipe inside of a pipe elbow and then smaller more pliable debris begin to wrap themselves around the twig or more rigid obstruction. This will continue until the flow to the pump has ceased.
I remember one time I got a call from a pool owner who already had a rotor rooter guy out who tried to clear out the skimmer line- to no avail. I brought my tank of carbon dioxide gas to blow out the line. As I blew out the line, quite a bit of garbage came out, but it wasn't completely clear. So, the customer and I resorted to using a toilet plunger, we took turns with it and after a few minutes, out pops a small toy car. It just goes to show you that sometimes a low tech solution works! That was the first and last time I had to use a toilet plunger on a swimming pool!
One last word on suction side cleaners: WARNING: Do not use your cleaner to clean a clean pool! Whew! In other words, don't run the cleaner all of the time. Just run it when the pool is dirty. It won't wear out as quickly.
Robotic Cleaners
Robotic cleaners are the newest thing on the market as far as automatic cleaners are concerned. They are driven by household current that has been converted to low voltage. Because these robotic cleaners have their own built-in filter, the use of the primary filter is reduced. If the pool pump is turned off, and after several hours, any suspended dirt particulates will have settled to the bottom of the pool, and then when the robotic cleaner is turned back on, the effect is enhanced and the primary filter's usage will be reduced further. These cleaners are able to be adjusted so that they can clean tile too.
Some of the robotic cleaners can be steered from poolside controls. The only downside here that I can see is that these cleaners are very expensive, up to $1400. The last point to remember here is that you can't avoid some work when you use any of these automatic cleaners. You will still need to clean and service the cleaner.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Automatic Cleaners
Pop Up In-Floor Systems
Prior to the introduction in the Phoenix area of automated swimming pool cleaners, the only mechanism that provided an actual cleaning assist for swimming pools was an in-floor pop up system developed by Paddock Pools, or the turbo head in-floor system utilized by Master Pools later to be called Shasta Pools. Other pool construction companies used their own proprietary systems or those provided by manufacturers or wholesalers.
The Master Pool's in-floor system worked with a water valve that supplied clean, filtered water to the turbo heads. The Master Pool water valve operated by way of plastic gearing, not unlike the gearing within a mechanical clock. The water upon entering the valve, spun a small fan like turbine that drove the rest of the mechanism. The clockwork took the high rpm output of the turbine and gradually geared the movement down to a rate that was very slow and usable. The mechanism at that point would slowly open, one by one, six different valves over a period of say 15 minutes or so. Each valve would in turn shoot a stream of water through it's own separate pipe down to beneath the floor of the pool, activating a couple of turbo heads simultaneously, causing a jet of water to shoot out from each individual turbo head and thereby stir up the dirt or debris in it's way. As each turbo head repeated this cycle, the head would come to rest in a slightly different position in it's base whereby the jet of water would issue out in a slightly different direction during it's next cycle.
The Master Pool system was quite good at doing it's job. A certain amount of dirt and debris would become suspended in the pool water and leave the pool by way of the main drain or skimmer. But not all of the dirt. The remaining dirt usually accumulated on the love seat or step area and in dead spots on the pool floor, and when the filter approached being plugged, the walls collected some dirt too, all of which were annoyances to the pool owner or service professional. But most of these problems were understood to be a residue of the turbo heads frenetic activity and were easily solved by backwashing the filter and then brushing off the steps or dead spots or vacuuming once in a while.
Just by luck, I met and was able to talk to an individual who claimed to have originally designed and marketed the water valve used by Master Pool, he said that he had originally designed it to be an irrigation valve. He said that the problem with it was that the individual valves could not be adjusted to run within a variable time frame, and with areas of landscaping having different watering needs, the device failed to perform it's intended use. So it was adapted to swimming pool cleaning needs.
Almost all of the swimming pools that were built by Master Pool did not have an alternative way for the filtered water to return to the pool. The turbo heads were in operation whenever the pump was turned on, whether or not the pool was dirty. This tacked on additional wear to the turbo heads and the water valve's internal parts that supplied the water to the heads. Yet this system's individual parts would last for years before replacement was necessary.
The pools built by Master Pool really did need to have a parallel inlet jet system that could have been turned on by hand, or turned on by a electric actuating valve. This would have enabled the in-floor turbo system to be turned off when the pool was clean, and yet let the skimmer to continue to clean the surface of the pool. As it was back then, the turbos action actually made the surface activity of the pool chaotic, and prevented some debris from even getting near the skimmer. This as you may know from an earlier post of mine, this is not optimal surface action – we want to have a whirlpool action on the surface.
The Master Pool system of turbo heads even with the additional wear could last for years before a replacement was needed, and when needed, the turbo head was modular so often all you needed to buy was one small replacement part.
After Shasta Pools either bought Master Pool or perhaps just changed names, Shasta began to install inlet jets in the new pools that they built. This was an improvement. However, Shasta Pools replaced the turbo head system in their new pools with an inferior in-floor pop up product that did not approach the durability of the old Master Pool system. The new pop ups were fragile and tended to get stuck in the up or down position quite easily by becoming worn out, or by debris or a small rock fragment becoming lodged between the moving parts. This occurred because unlike the turbo head which had a low profile, the entire pop up head came up out of its casing for it's job to be done, and any small nearby rock or debris that was not in the way of the jet stream was liable to be ensnared in the pop up when it quickly went back down. This situation also caused the pop ups to wear very easily. The turbo head in contrast did not pop up above the pool's floor, it stayed semi-sealed within it's protective casing and seldom jammed up.
This situation was annoyingly worsened by Shasta Pools when they began to pressure customers who owned the Master Pool turbo system to replace that system with the new pop up system. I have talked to customers of mine who were unhappy with the result of the switch over. Shasta even made it difficult for me and Master Pool owners by restricting the availability of the replacement turbo heads in order to motivate customers to switch. Perhaps they still do.
Paddock Pool's in floor system has many similar deficiencies. But in addition to the problems that were similar to Shasta Pool's system's difficulties, for some reason Paddock liked to divert unfiltered water straight from the pump to drive some of their systems. This caused accelerated wear to the water valve and the in-floor pop ups, and made the “cleaning system” put dirt back into the pool! Wow! Whats' up with that? I had a “discussion” with a long time Paddock Pool technician over this situation, the best answer he could come up with was: “We've done it like this for thirty years!” Great. I suppose by diverting water before it gets filtered, they obtained an increased gallons per minute flow rate through their “cleaning system”. But I wouldn't let a mangy dog swim in that pool.
Pressure Side Cleaners (to be continued)
Prior to the introduction in the Phoenix area of automated swimming pool cleaners, the only mechanism that provided an actual cleaning assist for swimming pools was an in-floor pop up system developed by Paddock Pools, or the turbo head in-floor system utilized by Master Pools later to be called Shasta Pools. Other pool construction companies used their own proprietary systems or those provided by manufacturers or wholesalers.
The Master Pool's in-floor system worked with a water valve that supplied clean, filtered water to the turbo heads. The Master Pool water valve operated by way of plastic gearing, not unlike the gearing within a mechanical clock. The water upon entering the valve, spun a small fan like turbine that drove the rest of the mechanism. The clockwork took the high rpm output of the turbine and gradually geared the movement down to a rate that was very slow and usable. The mechanism at that point would slowly open, one by one, six different valves over a period of say 15 minutes or so. Each valve would in turn shoot a stream of water through it's own separate pipe down to beneath the floor of the pool, activating a couple of turbo heads simultaneously, causing a jet of water to shoot out from each individual turbo head and thereby stir up the dirt or debris in it's way. As each turbo head repeated this cycle, the head would come to rest in a slightly different position in it's base whereby the jet of water would issue out in a slightly different direction during it's next cycle.
The Master Pool system was quite good at doing it's job. A certain amount of dirt and debris would become suspended in the pool water and leave the pool by way of the main drain or skimmer. But not all of the dirt. The remaining dirt usually accumulated on the love seat or step area and in dead spots on the pool floor, and when the filter approached being plugged, the walls collected some dirt too, all of which were annoyances to the pool owner or service professional. But most of these problems were understood to be a residue of the turbo heads frenetic activity and were easily solved by backwashing the filter and then brushing off the steps or dead spots or vacuuming once in a while.
Just by luck, I met and was able to talk to an individual who claimed to have originally designed and marketed the water valve used by Master Pool, he said that he had originally designed it to be an irrigation valve. He said that the problem with it was that the individual valves could not be adjusted to run within a variable time frame, and with areas of landscaping having different watering needs, the device failed to perform it's intended use. So it was adapted to swimming pool cleaning needs.
Almost all of the swimming pools that were built by Master Pool did not have an alternative way for the filtered water to return to the pool. The turbo heads were in operation whenever the pump was turned on, whether or not the pool was dirty. This tacked on additional wear to the turbo heads and the water valve's internal parts that supplied the water to the heads. Yet this system's individual parts would last for years before replacement was necessary.
The pools built by Master Pool really did need to have a parallel inlet jet system that could have been turned on by hand, or turned on by a electric actuating valve. This would have enabled the in-floor turbo system to be turned off when the pool was clean, and yet let the skimmer to continue to clean the surface of the pool. As it was back then, the turbos action actually made the surface activity of the pool chaotic, and prevented some debris from even getting near the skimmer. This as you may know from an earlier post of mine, this is not optimal surface action – we want to have a whirlpool action on the surface.
The Master Pool system of turbo heads even with the additional wear could last for years before a replacement was needed, and when needed, the turbo head was modular so often all you needed to buy was one small replacement part.
After Shasta Pools either bought Master Pool or perhaps just changed names, Shasta began to install inlet jets in the new pools that they built. This was an improvement. However, Shasta Pools replaced the turbo head system in their new pools with an inferior in-floor pop up product that did not approach the durability of the old Master Pool system. The new pop ups were fragile and tended to get stuck in the up or down position quite easily by becoming worn out, or by debris or a small rock fragment becoming lodged between the moving parts. This occurred because unlike the turbo head which had a low profile, the entire pop up head came up out of its casing for it's job to be done, and any small nearby rock or debris that was not in the way of the jet stream was liable to be ensnared in the pop up when it quickly went back down. This situation also caused the pop ups to wear very easily. The turbo head in contrast did not pop up above the pool's floor, it stayed semi-sealed within it's protective casing and seldom jammed up.
This situation was annoyingly worsened by Shasta Pools when they began to pressure customers who owned the Master Pool turbo system to replace that system with the new pop up system. I have talked to customers of mine who were unhappy with the result of the switch over. Shasta even made it difficult for me and Master Pool owners by restricting the availability of the replacement turbo heads in order to motivate customers to switch. Perhaps they still do.
Paddock Pool's in floor system has many similar deficiencies. But in addition to the problems that were similar to Shasta Pool's system's difficulties, for some reason Paddock liked to divert unfiltered water straight from the pump to drive some of their systems. This caused accelerated wear to the water valve and the in-floor pop ups, and made the “cleaning system” put dirt back into the pool! Wow! Whats' up with that? I had a “discussion” with a long time Paddock Pool technician over this situation, the best answer he could come up with was: “We've done it like this for thirty years!” Great. I suppose by diverting water before it gets filtered, they obtained an increased gallons per minute flow rate through their “cleaning system”. But I wouldn't let a mangy dog swim in that pool.
Pressure Side Cleaners (to be continued)
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