We all have buckets - but I just invented this "new" five gallon gas can bucket for garden hose mixing!

[Gary Davis]

PS. I've never heard of a skimmer not connected to the filter. That's its whole purpose, to draw in unfiltered water and leaves, collect the big stuff in its basket, and then send the small stuff to the filter, through the pump. You've certainly got a unique setup, that's for sure.

Thanks for the kind advice, which I appreciate.

When I first bought the house, the home inspector said something was wrong with the flow so we brought in the builder (Lifetime Pools) who explained there's no need to filter the skimmer because the filter & pump baskets will catch the big stuff and the small stuff will get blown back into the pool to collect in the deep end at the dropoff basin, where the main drain picks it all up. The end result is that the skimmers are unfiltered (if you don't count the baskets - but I also add a Bed Bath & Beyond stainless steel strainer - which catches the small stuff).

Note that's ANOTHER invention of mine - as these $3 earth-saving BB&B stainless steel filter strainers are fantastically better than any of those expensive crummy garbage plastic strainers that Leslies sells, for sure.

Of course, the pool builder recommends you use his powerful pumps as frequently as possible, as they're not paying the 65 cents a kilowatt hour for three single-speed 240VAC pumps (one for the unfiltered skimmer & popup jets, another for the filtered main drain in the hot tub & deep basin, and a third for the unfiltered spa jets).

The builder showed me where the pool is plumbed for a vacuum but there's no pump so that would be a fourth pump on the equipment pad (which is a good 8 to 10 feet below the pool).

I'm thinking of making my own 120VAC portable vacuum as the self-cleaning popup jets are too labor intensive to maintain (there are many gears and o-rings involved in the space ship), where I'd still need to run those jets just to maintain the skimmer - so it's a highly inefficient setup for sure, but it is what it is.

Anyway, back on the topic of designing buckets, I tried to make a "leaky bucket" to put a gallon of acid into the pool, which worked but it didn't work any better than any other method.

 

[Gary Davis]

Since I had to add about ten pounds of CYA before the equipment could be used, I was able to come up with an idea to surprisingly quickly dissolve it underwater without marring the finish using the buckets.