Leaves, twigs and flower petals can often blow into your pool and unless removed, regularly will start to sink, creating unpleasant muck at the bottom of your pool. If you live near trees, cleaning all of the leaves can be challenging. If organic material sits on the surface for too long, it starts to decompose, sink and can be more difficult to remove. There are two primary methods for cleaning your pool, either from the surface, or from the bottom.
Surface Cleaning Options
Pump-powered skimmers
�If your pool is built in-ground, it most likely has one or two skimmer baskets built into the pool wall. A pump is used to pull water through the drain at the bottom of the pool and push water to the skimmers at the pool edge. Regularly emptying the baskets is crucial because if they're full, leaves won't be filtered out of the pool. Reducing suction through the main drain is the best strategy to encourage surface debris to float into your skimmer baskets.
Solar-powered robot cleaners
These are a relatively new invention, inspired by the "roomba" robot used to clean floors in your house. With a 12-hour battery life, this aquatic robot from Solar-Breeze will significantly reduce the amount of surface debris in your pool. Any remaining leaves will be filtered into your skimmer baskets. The cleaning robot is entirely solar powered and it does not need any cords or hoses.
Cleaning from the Bottom
Pop-ups
�In this cleaning system, jets are installed at the bottom of your pool that spray water in a pattern designed to encourage debris to float toward the deeper end of the pool,� said Scott London of Sundays Off Pool Service.�Once there, a specialized filter drain will remove debris out of the pool. There are filter baskets that need emptying and you will need to backwash your main filter more frequently if you opt for this method. Because it requires the pump to be running, it may also increase your electricity use.�
Pump-powered cleaners
Here a vacuum-like cleaner is attached to the end of a hose, operated with suction from the main pump. Best operated over night, the cleaning attachment will slowly crawl across the bottom and sides of the pool, vacuuming any debris deposited there. In these systems, suction can be blocked by a full filter basket. Make sure that you emptying it regularly.
Automatic Electric Cleaners
These cleaners run off of electricity rather than your pool pump and have long cords and motor housings that allow them to operate underwater. Though running an electrical appliance in the pool might make some nervous, they are generally quite safe. These cleaners operate in similar fashion to the pump-powered cleaners described above; and after a few hours of crawling along the bottom of your pool, simply pull it out and empty its debris repository.
Manual Cleaning
This is the simplest form of pool cleaning and only requires a long net. Simply use your net to pull leaves off of the surface, or any that have accumulated on the bottom of the pool. If there is a large amount of sunken debris, you'll need another piece of equipment called a leaf-rake. It includes a bag to help remove the piles of decomposing leaves. The only issue here is that you'll need to perform this task before you jump into your pool each day,� said Dan Michura, home improvement professional and owner of Tree Squad: Tree Service.