Pool Cleaning Job Too Big for Existing Filtration System

After several weeks of super heavy rain and my neighbor’s 40’ tree crashing down in my backyard, my 22,500 gallon pool is absolutely trashed with ~0.15” of soot covering its entire bottom.

I estimate that my existing filtration system would require 4-6 complete teardowns (at about 50 minutes each) to suck all of the soot out so I’m investigating alternative solutions.

I’m thinking along the lines of a submersible pump attached to my vacuum head and just pumping the dirty water out rather than filtering it. I can borrow a submersible pump but its intake isn’t designed for an attachment. Searching on “pond pumps” produced some options but nothing great.

Any thoughts?

Ours has a waste setting on the filter so we can vacuum water directly out and bypass the filter.

In reply to RX Reven':

When we had a extremely heavy load, I used a large 12V submersible pump and a pillowcase as a filter. I would vacuum the entire bottom with that, and the regular filter would get the last of the silt. Use a high thread count pillowcase.

Wow, that was quick, thank you both very much.

Rustyvw,

I do have a back flushing valve but my understanding of how it worked didn’t get me what I needed…I’ll look into it further.

Toyman,

If I could ask, did your submersible pump have a hose attachment and where was the pillow case placed in the system?

I just wanted to thank Rustyvw & Toyman again for their guidance.

$40 worth of raw materials got me a Frankenstonian contraption that utilized the existing pump, bypassed the filter, and shot the crud off my backyard into open land.

Despite having to transvers an initial six foot elevation, the pump worked so aggressively that I had to shut it off every few minutes and let the water supply run for about twenty minutes to get the pool filled back up.

Anyway, I’m super happy and the contraption folded neatly into a shoe box so I’m ready to go should I ever need it again.

Thanks hive.

You should be able to vacuum it straight to waste and bypass the filter entirely. That's what I do. There is a setting for this on the rotary valve. Mine dumps right into the sewer system, but in other places this is not legal and you will have to run a hose out to the end of the yard or somewhere. Lowes even carries these. Be sure you are adding water with a hose while you taking water out with the vacuum. My cover is the "trampoline" style and is a mesh. In the spring there is a ton of "soot" in it and I follow this procedure every time. Easy easy.

After a hurricane Ivan here on the Gulf Coast probably 12 years ago I watched my sister in laws pool maintenance service vacuum her pool with a vacuum head hooked directly to a gas powered pump. Was amazed that the pump vacuumed leaves, pine needles, small twigs off trees plus whatever else that had blown into the pool. Really made short work of the whole deal. All the debris was pumped to the back of her yard through a hose. Her pool was cement/gunite not sure what would happen with a vinyl liner. It did draw the water level down some even though water was at overflow vent with all the rain.