Floating Pool Skimmer?
I have a lot of debris, dead insects, little seed pods and stuff floating on the top surface. I tried using the nylon net but that is not effective. The skimmer does not seen to be taking in much of it, its a large pool 20'x30' and with four nozzle jets still there is not a lot of circulation. I can use the skimmer to suck off the bottom debris with a hose attachment. I keep the water about 2 inches above the skimmer lip but the floating debris are a real problem. Is there an effective way to clean that? I see an ad for a floating skimmer: http://usaink.com/dragonfly/pool_tool.html is this effective? Wonder how it moves around...if I can take a vaccuum hose and point it up and as long as I can steady it vertically and keep it an inche below water surface will it make it's own floating skimmer? Thanks! MC I did more search online and it seems most of these are battery operated self propelled with a built in filter and tend to be quite expensive. I think what I am looking for is an attachment that is attached to the real skimmer on one end with a hose and on the other side is this floating thing. Seems like there should be something out there relatively inexpensive? Here is one I found: http://www.poolsupplyworld.com/pool-parts/voguepoolproductinc-1003-054.htm?id=9 but I can't seem to find any review or comparison of these gadgets. Any suggestions or first hand experience? MC First Id ask are the jets set right so the water goes around and around the pool???? This will help put the junk into the skimmer . In the summer down there I had to run the pump about 6 to 8 hr a day. In all the pools I had there I used the (Kreepy Crawler??? It works off you pump and keeps the pool clean. It will do the bottom of the pool just fine. 4 pools and 25 years there WPB. use solar if you heat the pool and look into a Salt water pool no chlorine at all needed. cost less. There are 4 jets around the pool which is about 20' x 35' in size. The circulation just does not seem to be enough for the skimmer to do it's job. I am talking about seed pods, leaves, bugs and other floating debris. Bottom is not a problem, bottom is clean, it's the top. MC Is the pump the right size for a dive pool there????( that large had one not worth it) The filter the right size and you keep it clean???? that large you should have 6 jets. You can get new heads on them so the water does go around and the skimmer gets the yuck. You do have the bottom drain closed ???So it all goes to the skimmer????? If you have a spa on it turn that off I don't know if the jets or pump is enough. The pool was built in 1972 and everything is original. It has one main drain and one skimmer drain and 2 return lines that split into 4 jets. I am not sure determine the correct numbers but what is built is built and cannot be changed now that everything is under the concrete slab. MC If the pump is from 72 Id say you need a new one for sure. It dont pump what it should. Is it clean impeller good ? Then whats the filter??? You should only take back from the skimmer not the bottom for a clean pool . Did you check and get a Kreepy Crawler That is the best one to get. I happened upon your Problem Re rubbish on top of the pool My Brother had the same problem some years ago. So I got top work on the problem and came up with the pool cleaner you mentioned. You put your finger on the pulse of the problem when you said that you had to steady it vertically. This type of skimmer doesn't actively move around on the water. Water cu rents and wind will move it around to a limited degree But I have personally found that it in many cases it can is an advantage to tether it in place. By holding it in place where the majority of the rubbish tends to go and setting the pool jets to help in this process only a few leaves sink and nearly no dust gets into the water. Skimming uses surface tension so if you have a skimmer that is very effective as is mine it will rip nearly all dirt of the surface of the water within about 40 minutes. Most particles landing on the water will float for hours on the surface tension so by spreading your filtration cycles to 3 or better still 4 times practically no dirt needs to get into the water. skimming is also the best way to remove many disease carrying agents from the surface of the water and this is why all public pools use flat deck skimming. you got around 25,000gals of water if this is a diving pool. the pump needs to be at a min. 1 hp. you may be able to go larger if the filter is capable of handling the volume and pressure. it also need to be run at a min of 8 hrs a day continuiously. Is there a main drain? you may need to close it partialy,so there is more water drawn into the skimmer. aim all the jets toward the skimmer so they flow in a circular pattern. if the volume drawn in the skimmer is low you may have a filter prolbem or possibly a damaged impeller in the pump housing. consider your self very lucky if the skimming arrangement of your pool works correctly. I have visited hundreds of pools and nearly all of them have the fixed skimmer in the wrong position. Even if it is positioned correctly, for it to work effectively it would have to be at least 3 or 4 feet long, or be set up the way they are in public pools. The normal skimmer that you find in back yard pools work badly at best and require the water level to be just right. the only way out is to use a floating skimmer. I have looked at a number of these and they are generally toys that do half a job and or will break down very quickly. look for a good guaranty. If you have good skimming then the amount of chlorine used reduces as well as the amount of time your filter needs to run.You only need an average To bad swimming pool pump to attain very good floating skimmer results Robbert do you have a good floating skimmer to recommend? I saw a few and they are pretty expensive if they only do half a job then I am back to square one. My pool is pretty large, it is about 30' x 20' and depth varies from 5' to 9' so that is over 25000 gallons and the skimmer opening is near one corner. The 3 jets are on the other side and being so far away and immersed at least two feet deep they hardly do anything to circulate the water, they do make little ripples but not enough. I basically use the skimmer sometimes to suck the bottom debris through the hose attached to the skimmer, and when I do that I do turn off the valve to the main drain to increase the suction and that works pretty well. But I have a lot of dead bugs, floating seed pods and other floating debris that is just not going away. I guess I can play with the water level to achieve optimum skimmer suction but one rainfall or some evaporation and it's off again. I don't know if I can increase capacity to increase suction - the equipment was there went I bought the house it is possible they are not correct for the pool size? Filter: Hayward Star Clear Plus C1200 Pool Filter Pump: I am not sure of the brand but it looks just like this: http://images.intheswim.com/images/cat_image/E2300.jpg except the gold part if black. I don't know if my pump and filter are the right combination for my pool. Any advise? Thanks, MC You have so many pool companys down there Id say go talk to them. On what size you need there. when I do that I do turn off the valve to the main drain to increase the suction and that works pretty well. But I have a lot of dead bugs, floating seed pods and other floating debris that is just not going away. Id start here . I have never ran any of my pool pumps with the bottom drain open. The only time you use that there is to pump out the pool. The skimmer will get a lot more bugs if it pulls in more water. Then get a Kreepy Crawler to do the bottom now and then. Did you clean the filter good????? close off the main drain valve, for a week and see if it improves, if it does crack open the valve for the MD so it will get circulation in the deeper water. the returns are moving the water, they are not supposed to make the water turbulent, they are to move debris toward the skimmer. if the pool is odd shaped this will affect the water the water flows. The skimmer you mentioned earlier on The Dragonfly Is the Best Skimmer that you will get a hold of short of rebuilding your swimming pool. It Floats on the surface of the pool And plugs into the suction plate over the leaf basket. Once it is adjusted to your pools suction it will never need any further adjustment. The best way to use it is by leaving it plugged in all the time so that it comes on whenever the suction is on its also best to break up your filter cycle into 3 or 4 periods so that the materials that float on the water don't get the chance to get past the surface tension. This skimmer is admittedly the dearest one but it is also the only one that works properly. I is also the only one that has a four year guaranty. This Skimmer gets about 98% of the crap if used properly. Its only weakness is that it doesn't work well during rain as the rain tends to sink debris too quickly. They are made in Australia and are available from a mob in Texas. The Australian website is www.dragonfly.biz. So long as you have an average pool pump it will work just fine. Regards Robbert You wil find that this unit will do the trick very well the Dragonfly skimmer was originaly invented in Australia to deal with a pool that had 3 liquid amber trees a flowering gum tree it was also close to a main road so as well as seed pollen leaves flowers insects it had to put up with dust and other trafic fall out. I know this because my brother and I are the inventors of this machine. I supose you could say I have a vested interest in talking this thing up. However we are seling enough of these not to be bothered trying to con any one. have a look at Dragonfly.biz and it will explain exactly how it works and the advantages over a standard skimmer or for that mater a normal pool floor clener. Granted some stuf gets past and sinks however. acording to my measurements less then 2%. I will put a couple of email I got a while back from a person that put one in his pool at the end of this mesage A quick note to let you know I received the Dragonfly Skimmer in yesterday's mail. A big thank you for your prompt delivery and your follow-up of my order. My first impression of the performance of the Dragon Fly is very positive. The Dragon Fly performed exactly how the website articles described it would. I am very impressed. Within an hour of plugging it in , all of the leaves, dirt and pollen floating on the surface had been skimmed up. I am very confident that this will solve my ongoing battle with leaves and debris in the pool. Given last nights results, I think a couple of the trees in our yard may have escaped the chainsaw. Again a big thank you for your prompt delivery and professional service. I will keep you posted on the results. Cheers, Regards, Scott Bull Yes, my wife and I are from Washington State originally. We moved to the San Francisco Bay Area for about 5 years and now in Manila since June last year. Some of the most fun we’ve had but also a difficult cultural adjustment. By the way, your skimmer is OUTSTANDING! The landlord had rigged a ineffective workaround since she was not going to repair the broken pipe that runs from skimmer to pump. After less than 12 hours the Dragonfly had the pool sparkling clean. I have to say it was well worth the wait. If you ever need a reference for the product locally, feel free to direct them to us. We checked with a number of local pool supply businesses before happening on our site and none of them were aware that anything like the Dragonfly existed. Perhaps there is an opportunity for a distributor here in the Philippines. Folks tend to go for the quick fix here (no matter what the value) so a “plug and play” system like yours is exactly what they would be attracted to. That they get an efficient system would be a tremendous bonus! Thanks for all your help Max. Consider us very happy customers. Jeff Cheers Robbert You say there is not much circulation, the key to good skimming of the surface water is to have a good ripple on the surface. Your return jets should be pointed up towards the skimmer so the debris will float towards it. If you find you're not getting a lot of flow, try to replace your eyeballs with a smaller holed ones. The other option is a automatic pool cleaner that also skims the surface of the water. hi m.c. before you go off the deep end buying this trying that, lets consider what you have to work with, 1. you stated your pool is apx 25,000 gal [ 20 x 30 x ave. depth. x 7.5 ] 2. I have no way of determining the h.p. , brand, or model of your pump , so we do not know with any asurance to the capability of your pump, however the is one area that jumps out immediately. 3. the hayward c-1200 filter it is a 120 sq. ft. cartridge filter. totatly undersized for your pool, the minimum i would recommend would be a 420 sq. ft. cartridge, preferably a 60 sq. ft. d.e. 4. however taking what we have , remove the cartridge element completely and put the filter back togeather, run your pump , [ close bottom suction ] and ascertain if the skimmer is pulling more water or the same amount [ remove the basket check the suction piping, BE CAREFUL , only use 2 or 3 fingers as there may be a lot more suction than you previously had or can believe. if there is more suction , you can point to the problem of an undersized filter or extremely dirty / plugged filter, there has been many postings of clean the cartridge element, however personally if the element is bad, i would opt for a new filter, to gain maximum skimming action in any given pool direct your eye ball fittings, located on your return lines] so as to create water movement around the peremeter of the pool, for you skimmer to function 100% you will need a weir blade in the skimmer throut, if you don't have one see your pool store, if you don't have return eye balls see your pool store, you may have to install smaller eye balls in your present fittings. steve if you n
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