How to rig up vacuum to filter on donut pool?

[CarlD]

I came up with a vacuum system for my 15' Intex donut back in the stone ages--about 7 years ago.

I bought 18' of 1 1/4" hose. I found a 3/4" (ID) double-female PVC adapter at H/D. I forced the adapter in the hose, and the other end fit perfectly in the Intex return.

For a vacuum head I used a Biogard garden hose-type vacuum (like a Black Magic) that had an adapter to use as a regular vacuum head and had a 1 1/4" fitting.

While the suction wasn't the greatest, it DID catch the super-fine stuff in the filter.

[BlueBlobTX]

Our donut only came with a garden hose driven (venturi?) vac... it did ok on the med sized stuff--larger stuff clogged it--algae residue, dirt, sand & road dust from our caliche road went right through it--and we don't have real good water pressure either. Another option is a PoolBuster. I heard about it on this forum from many who own them and are happy. It's perfect for a 18' donut. It was pricey compared to the price of the pool, but probably the best investment I've made. The pooldoc site (I'm not promoting here... just referring) sells a model that they claim is specifically for these type pools. I got mine about a month ago and I cannot believe all the gunk I have gotten out of the pool. Plus, no more hoses.

As for the fine stuff... after watching the silt and gunk go through the pump, cartridge filter, and back out the return, I don't think you'd catch a whole lot by rigging a vac to the pump unless you add a sock somewhere to catch the fine particles. Otherwise, as sugggested above, maybe disconnecting the return hose... you're going to loose some water that way though.

Lori

[CarlD]

Sounds to me like there's a problem with your filter cartridge. Have you changed it or keep using the same one over and over? I found the carts picked up the fine stuff. You can also try tossing a few handfuls of cotton balls in the vacuum bag--or just use a syphon to vacuum to waste--it will grab everything, no matter how fine.

[BlueBlobTX]

Carl- I've been changing the filter weekly. They were available and cheap enough this year to just replace rather than try to clean. Might be that the pump is a little oversized... it's a discontinued Model 51, which I believe pumps 2000 gph in a 5500 gal. pool. If the sediment gets stirred up, it will pick up some in the filter, but there seems to be a lot that passes on through and dumps by the return. We had bad algae when we opened that I got cleared up thanks to this wonderful website. Had a lot of residue left from that, plus we have a caliche driveway running about 5 feet in front of the pool and have been in a pretty severe drought here in Texas. There's dust everywhere, including in the pool. I did try the cotton balls in the bag... that picked up some extra stuff. But based on your recommendation in another post, I went ahead and splurged on the pool devil & bought the extra fine bag, plus socks to fit into that. It picked everything up. The first time I used it, the bag was almost full of tan sludge... globs of it. I couldn't believe it got it all out. Now, once a week does it and it doesn't take very long. I'm hoping to move on up in a year or two to a nice above-ground and hopefully can use the devil on that one too. An automatic cleaner would be nice... but for now, I enjoy getting it the pool and vacuuming... beats vacuuming the house!

Lori

[pam100257]

Hello and Thanks to everyone for great ideas! I do change the filter at least once a week and clean it in between. Since I found this forum and started using bleach instead of all those other chemicals, my pool water is clear again but I can see stuff on the bottom that I need to get out of there.
Again, Thank You!