Don’t underestimate the power of proper and regular pool maintenance
If you want a pool that people will actually want to swim in, a pool vacuum pool cleaner is probably one of the most important pieces of swimming pool equipment you will buy. When I had my own pool built, just last spring, all of the Houston pool builders that I spoke to were adamant about the importance of proper and regular pool cleaning. Not only does it suck dirt and debris from the pool filter and from the bottom of the pool, keeping the clean and sparkling, it also puts less stress on your pool’s filtering system so they don’t burn out quickly.
How exactly does a pool vacuum cleaner work?
Your pool’s vacuum cleaner tube attaches to the swimming pool filter, and a pool vacuum head attaches to the opposite end of the tube. The vacuum works by sucking up the waste and debris in your pool’s filter. As the pool filters before a cleaning, all of the pool dirt is stored inside the filter until it is removed by the pool vacuum. Anyone in your household can use a pool cleaner, they just simply have to attach the pool vacuum head and suck away the dirt. Pool vacuum heads differ, but are flexible so that dirt can be reached and sucked out of the corners of the pool. Many pool vacuum cleaners offer a variety of changeable heads—such as brushes and scrubs—for harder to clean dirt on pools with soft pool liners, as well as various cleaner solutions.
Learning the difference between pool vacuum cleaner heads
As mentioned, there are a variety of vacuum pool cleaning heads available, for instance:
1. Conventional pool vacuum heads: The traditional pool vacuum head is stiff and inflexible. This is a perfectly fine option for an above ground pool with a hard concrete surface where the entire pool is the same depth.
2. Flexible pool vacuum heads: These flexible vacuum heads offer easy maneuverability and flexibility to get your vacuum head in those hard to reach places. The flexible vacuum head is the better choice for residential, in-ground pools with either hard surfaces or soft pool liners gradual inclines into a deep end.
3. Heavy-weighted pool vacuum heads: These pool cleaning tools feature lead and sand for weighing down the vacuum’s head in order to clean pools with depths of 8-feet deep or more. The weight causes these vacuum heads to easily sink to the bottom of the pool’s surface. Weighted pool vacuums are typically used to clean commercial pools that are used by large groups of people or pools that don’t get cleaned often and require a good, intense cleaning of pool walls and floor surfaces when they do.
4. Pool vacuums with add on brushes: Newer, vinyl and fiberglass surfaced pools with softer interiors require the gentler touch of vacuum heads with additional soft brushes and bristles to scrape away dirt and algae.
Some final pricing tips for pool vacuum cleaners
The wisest investment you can make is a well-researched one. That’s why it’s important to compare prices of pool vacuum cleaners before buying them and also to read customer reviews. Check with manufacturers, pool suppliers, pool contractors and online in order to get the best price that you can find. After all, you often get what you pay for, and with pool vacuum cleaners starting at $20 and ranging up to hundreds of dollars—depending on the quality, brand name, size and accessories—you will want to find a good bargain, but also end up with a quality pool vacuum.
