While some of these tips may be no-brainers for our more seasoned readers, if you’re a newbie to the swimming pool club then you may pick up some vital points to save you time, money and frustration.

Skim Your Pool Regularly

Your automatic pool cleaner may do a bang-up job of cleaning the bottom and sides of the pool, but you’ll make its load considerably lighter if you skim off leaves and debris from the surface. This prevents them from sinking to the bottom and perhaps clogging up the vacuum pipes. In fact, it puts less strain on the entire system which allows it to function better overall.

Leave it In

Taking your pool vacuum out while you’re swimming (especially with a bunch of rambunctious kiddies) may be a good idea. But – make sure that you’ve unplugged it from the system. If it’s left to suck in air then you’re looking at a burnt out system in no time at all.

Once you’ve finished swimming, pop it back in and let it carry on its tedious task. While the modern-day plastics which make up our dependable friends are pretty durable, too much time in the blistering South African sun can make it brittle.

Show it Some Love

Be sure to regularly pull out the unit and check for blockages. One family had to extract a rather fat mole from the pipe; another found that a piece of sharp plastic had been sucked up and had perforated part of the unit. A windy day, grass cutting or random toys left in the pool can cause blockages and damage to our automatic pool cleaner.

So, in a nutshell, it’s all about common sense and maintenance.

We wish you happy swimming in these last few months of summer and a sparkly blue pool.