How Often Should You Empty Your Skimmer Basket?
It’s fall, and the leaves are dropping all over the place. This blog looks at how often you should empty your skimmer basket. First, let’s look at the purpose of your skimmer basket.
What Does the Skimmer Basket Do?
It is the first pool tool that removes debris from your swimming pool.
If you don’t empty it on a regular basis, you make your pool pump work too hard. This, in turn, makes its life expectancy shorter.
As a side note, you also want to empty your pump basket. Your water flow is reduced if you let it get overly full of debris, such as leaves. This puts strain on your pool pump and makes filtration difficult.
What’s more, if your leaves accumulate in your skimmer basket, you can affect the chemical balance of your swimming pool. Why? Leaves contain phosphates which cause water problems.
How Much Water Should be in the Skimmer Basket?
If you are leaving your swimming pool open year-round, you want the water level in your skimmer basket to be about half way up your tile.
If it’s too low, you will most likely hear gurgling sounds. This means your pool pump is having a hard time pulling water into your skimmer and then on into your other pool equipment. The result? You might burn up your pool pump.
If the water is too high, it makes everything work less efficiently. You don’t water the water to go over the top of the skimmer. This will prevent most pesky fall leaves from entering your skimmer because the water comes in from below the surface when your water level is too high.
You want the leaves and other debris to actually get into your skimmer basket, so please maintain your water level.
And the Answer Is…
So, how often should you empty it? Often.
When the leaves are falling, or if you have lots of trees around your pool, you want to empty that skimmer basket a couple of times a day.
If your pets swim in the pool, you again want to empty it often, so the pet hair doesn’t accumulate.
The bottom line is that you want to empty your skimmer basket as often as it needs it. Check it at least once a day, and empty it twice a day when those leaves are flying.
Questions? Please let us know!
