a.tramp quick question. I have a magnolia tree in the backyard and the leaves are chewing up the diaphragm in my Baracuda T5 skimmer. It looks like a Krepy Krawler style skimmer. Have you ever seen a mesh screen added to one or a way to manage the magnolia tree leaves without cleaning it every damn day?
For real though, when it comes to trees and pools, there are no magic bullets. Decide if you want a pool with tree issues or a pool without tree issues. If you decide on the latter, trees have to go. Actually, there is a magic bullet but it is expensive to damn expensive. Get a manual cover for the pool or an automated cover for the pool. And magnolias suck, leaves as flexible as 1/4” plywood sheets.
My skill set is the backyard obviously. For instance, I can’t make a basic spreadsheet to save my life.
I would say it’s 15 feet at least. Debating cutting the fucker down. It’s right next to the fence and pool. Funny thing is I thought my Crepe Murtles would be a bigger pain in the ass.
My top 3 pains in the ass are Live Oaks, Pecan, Crepe Myrtle. Magnolias would be right up there if they were more abundant.
I love my oaks but I would literally be at the pool twice daily cleaning leaves and pollen these past two months and there were many days where I still wasn't keeping up.
I want my pool to have a vanishing edge like this. My new backyard has a pretty decent slope that will require a retaining wall, but it overlooks a golf course so I can get a really great view out of it.
How has OP not linked a pool care for dummies guide on the first page? a.tramp who do you recommend for west plano cleaning once I inevitably fail at doing it myself? Preferably one that accepts handies for payment because I will be as poor as lechnerd after buying this stupid pool
I have two of these things(4 crepe myrtle and a giant live oak) in my backyard. Making the call to get the live oak removed today. The crepe myrtles had never been trimmed so when I did it for the first time this spring, it was the worst experience ever. Took me weeks. I just learned the little brown things that the live oak is shitting all over my trampoline and pool are called catkins... and now they’re my least favorite thing in the entire world.
a.tramp I bought my o-ring lube. As best I can tell I have 3 o-rings (bubbler pump, pool pump, cartridge filter housing). Any other places I might have an o-ring? Is there a clever way to retrieve them without damaging them? Mine appear to be all buried deep in their respective grooves. I’m tempted to snag them with some needle nose pliers but I don’t want to tear them. The lubing of the o-rings is a great piece of advice that nobody has ever mentioned. Anything else (advice-wise) that we haven’t discussed that you can recommend? Appreciate you friend.
I just always have a really small flathead screwdriver. Don’t pry it out though, slide it along the Chanel until the o-ring comes unseated. You also most likely have one on the chlorinate lid as well unless they use magic to keep it sealed. If so, you will need to learn that spell. Also, this is the ONLY tramp endorsed lubricant. Just a dab the size of a teardrop is plenty for pump lid o-rings. Make sure the o-ring is dry and clean and then that drop can be applied and worked around the entire circumference.
You are going to kill me. I thought you said “Trump-endorsed” not “Tramp-endorsed” and I bought the Hayward lube instead of the Pentair lube.
a.tramp I’m probably overthinking the difficulty of removing the pump filter basket o-rings but they are buried so deep in a channel it’s very difficult to get them out without damaging them. I recently discovered an o-ring pick: Did not know these existed. Going to try and carefully remove them tomorrow. How often should I lube the o-rings? Your suggestion on the drain plug on the bottom of the cartridge filter housing has been a blessing. I’ve really got the cartridge filter pretty clean as a result of being able to drain all that dirty water out instead of only cleaning the filter. This combined (I think) with your suggestion to lube the o-rings has got my heater working. The first time I had the blue haven guy come out to look at the heater he said it wasn’t working because of low flow but didn’t offer any suggestions about low flow causes. I think tighter seals with the lubricated o-rings and a cleaner filter (now housed in clean water after finding out about the drain plug) is why I was able to get it working. Is my reasoning sound or am I off? Another issue that popped up last week was I noticed these small white wisps of what looked like hair all over the pool. I’m almost positive they are from the 4 white bands that surround the cartridge filter. I’ve been cleaning it so much lately with the power washer that I’ve been shredding those white bands and they’ve been disintegrating into the pool. I called Hayward to get some replacements and the lady I spoke with said they won’t just sell the bands by themselves I bought some 36” long black zip ties and am going to replace the bands with the zip ties. Bad idea? Are the bands even necessary? Some pool maintenance videos I’ve been watching on YouTube suggest using a chemical cleaner or tablet on the cartridge filter to loosen up oils you can’t get by power washing alone. Any thoughts on these? I appreciate you.
O-ring pick tool is quite possibly my favorite tool I’ve ever bought. Worked incredibly well. Cartridge filter bands were glued to each pleat so I had to break each of those bonds before replacing the bands. That was painful. Damn you Hayward. Zip tie seemed to work well in its place however.
My son is turning 3 next month. Probably a bad idea but we are going to have a pool party for him and his 2 and 3 year old classmates. Pretty sure I had a panic attack when I dreamt about it last night.
Uhhhh. They were glued for a reason. Now the pleats will collapse in on themselves and you will be cleaning filter quicker as you just reduced your square footage of filtration....
This is my 3 month long Super Bowl currently, I barely have time to even drink a beer right now. I advise you to shoot me a text next time you are considering breaking your pool as it is far more reliable than me responding to TMB.
It was p. Real Life at the Jester King two weekends ago. Why don’t you stop being asocial and come join us?
New pool owner here. Anyone have a DE filter? Any tips for adding DE back to the skimmers after back washing? Also, is it critical to clean the pump every time you backwash? What about rinse? The pool company said just backwash and put it back to filter, never mentioned rinsing.