How to vacuum an above-ground, built-in and in-ground pool

Vacuuming the pool, either at the beginning of the season or as a regular maintenance, is relatively simple. However, one needs to know how to do it the most effectively. Indeed, it is important to keep your pool clean, without waste or debris at the bottom in order to maintain a healthier and safer water to swim in.

Required material includes a telescopic pole, a vacuum head, a hose to connect all these parts and a vacuum plate to put on the skimmer. Connection is made via the skimmer where the suction comes from. Bottom drain has to be shut off. Each time you operate the three-way valve, you have to turn off the motor and put the drain in the “close” position. If you have an above-ground pool, the three-way valve is located at the end of the skimmer. The “close” arrow has to point towards the bottom drain hose. If you have an inground or semi-inground pool, this valve is located at the pump inlet. You need to close the bottom drain the same way in order for the skimmer to start its suction operation.

Turn on the motor to operate the system. Install the hose removable endpiece on the vacuum head to have more flexibility when vacuuming the pool. Then, put the vacuum and the whole hose in the pool. Fill the hose by placing the fixed endpiece into the backflow. You will see bubbles exiting the vacuum head. When there is no more bubbles, the hose is entirely filled with water and air free. It is time to connect it to the vacuum plate and then put it inside the skimmer, above the basket. The latter will collect large debris avoiding to block the filter.

If you are performing a regular maintenance of your pool, everything is ready to start. If you are spring cleaning a very dirty pool, you have to vacuum it using the “waste” position. This technique allows you to bypass the filtering system to avoid clogging by leading dirty water directly to the street. During this operation, your pool will lose a large amount of water so make sure the water level remains very high and never goes under the skimmer level. If it goes under when in the “waste” position, stop vacuuming, add enough water and restart the operation. A good way to avoid the water level to go down too fast is to leave a garden hose on while vacuuming.

To drain waste water to the street, use a backwash hose. If you have a cartridge filter, connect the backwash hose to the pump outlet. On one side, you have the piping that brings water to the filtering system, and on the other side, you can connect the hose. If you have a sand filter, the connection is made directly to the filter head. The pump motor has to be turned off and the filter handle placed in the “waste” position (sewer). If you have a cartridge filter, make sure that the arrow indicating the “close” position points to the filtering system to block incoming water and send it directly to the street instead. When you turn the pump motor on, water flow will be fast.

When you are done with your regular maintenance or after an extensive clean-up in the “waste” position (sewer), turn everything off, disconnect the vacuum and put back the handle in the “filter” position if it was in the “waste” position (sewer).

There you go! You can now enjoy a clean pool!

View the different steps in this French video (click here).