Head out to the back yard at least once per week for some routine pool cleaning. It can be a time to get a few minutes by yourself or make it a family project. A clean pool makes everything work better. The equipment doesn't have to work as hard and your chemicals will last longer. It really doesn't take very long and it's easy to do!

Tools of the trade include a good nylon brush, stainless steel wire brush, leaf-master, surface skimmer, vacuum plate and vacuum head.

First, clean up around the pool. Chances are, dirt and other debris AROUND the pool wind up IN the pool.


Skim The Surface

Use your surface skimmer net to get the leaves and twigs off the surface of the pool. Toss the collected debris into a trash basket or far enough away from the pool that it doesn't wind up blowing back in it.


Brush The Tile, Walls and Bottom

Go around the tile with the nylon brush to loosen all the material from the tile's surface. Brush the sides of your pool and the bottom area. Brushing loosens foreign material and keeps algae and other particles suspended so the filter can remove them.


Empty The Baskets

Turn off the pump. Simply remove and empty the baskets in the skimmers and pump. Replace the baskets, make sure the pump lid is secured tightly and turn on the pump.


Vacuum The Pool

A vacuum head attached to the filter system will lift dirt and leaves off the bottom of the pool and send them to the filter.

EXPERT TIP: Use a vacuum plate. This fits over the skimmer basket and attaches to the vacuum hose. Debris is then trapped by the skimmer basket and keeps it from going into the filter.

Simply attach the vacuum head to a long pole and one end of the hose and lower it into the pool slowly allowing the hose to fill with water. Once the vacuum head is on the bottom of the pool connect it to the vacuum plate allowing as little air as possible into the hose.

Move the vacuum head slowly over the bottom of the pool allowing the settled dirt and leaves to be sucked into the hose and trapped by the skimmer basket or the filter. Don't go too fast! The vacuum head will stir up the debris keeping it from entering the vacuum head.