Anyone here have experience with pool hoses?
The length 'needed' is 60 feet of 1 1/2 inch hose.
Leslie's pool supply says you can only get 35 feet of 1 1/2; if I want 60 feet, it jumps to 2 inch hose (which requires an adapter).
Two questions:
- If I opt for two 35 feet lengths, how do you connect them? (Duct tape?)
- If I opt for one length, can we actually buy 60-foot 1 1/2 inch hose (Leslie's says it isn't sold).
Thanks, in advance
I forgot to mention this is the 'vacuum hose'.
The one with the spirals to keep it from collapsing.
I think I'll be forced to use two 35 feet 1 1/2 inch hoses ... but if I do ... how are they supposed to be connected?
How do you connect the hose to the vacuum outlet ?
To connect two hoses together, construct your own butt-splice using a short section of PVC piping the correct diameter to just slip inside the hoses far enough so that you can clamp the hose to it with a metal hose clamp...
You would then wrap the spliced section of hose where the metal hose clamps are with a waterproof tape to protect the world around your pool from getting scratched by your home spliced super long hose...
~~ Evan
- gpsman
It's a 1 1/2 inch opening. You just shove the hose into that hole.
I was hoping there was something more elegant, and disconnectable.
Both ends are the same. It's hard to say whether they are male or female, but, they're the same.
They look like male, but, on the one end that goes to the vacuum, it goes into the vacuum hole (where the vacuum hole surrounds the hose).
On the other end, it looks the same, but instead of going into a hole, it goes on top of the vacuum head itself (i.e., the hose surrounds the vacuum head).
You can flip the hose end to end and it would work the same.
- One end acts like a male and goes inside the vacuum hole
- The other end, acts like a female and surrounds the post of the hand vacuum
Both ends are the same.
I have a hard time believing you can't buy a longer hose though. Here's a 50' one.
Just out of curiousity, what size pool is this for? A 60ft vacuum hose seems very long. This is the hose you use to vacuum debris from the pool right? They usually attach to a skimmer. And most pools have a skimmer somewhere around the middle and more than one skimmer. So, even if the pool were 40ft long, a hose maybe 30ft long should work and it would be a lot easier to work with. most pools.
Also, I've never found the manual vacuums to be very useful. I have a Polaris and it does all the cleaning during the season.
That's another part of the equation that I didn't mention - which is that the lentgh 'needed' is 60 feet but the 'manageable length' might be something shorter.
That's why I was looking for ideas.
As was stated, any joint in a vacuum hose is just asking for trouble; yet, a long hose is unwieldy at best.
I guess the best of both worlds would be if there is a 'secure fitting' (a screw on type perhaps) that only a pool guy would know about (from experience).
The pool is 60 feet long. It has a so-called Paramount Self-Cleaning System, which means it's not built to use a vacuum hose as there is supposedly no need for a vacuum.
Technically this type of pool isn't built for a vacuum head. So they didn't place the Paramount "debris cannister" in a convenient location (for vacuuming).
In a 'normal' pool, the skimmers would go to the pool filter; but in this type of pool, the skimmers just send dirty water back into the pool, unfiltered.
I know it sounds whacky, but all the skimmers do is trap BIG stuff (really big stuff) in the basket; the rest goes right back into the pool since the skimmers feed the floor jets directly (without any filtering whatsoever).
This pool has exactly that. Except the skimmers are unfiltered. They go right back to the pool, unfiltered. In fact, I was confused when I was constantly told by Leslie's personnel to hook the vacuum hose into the skimmers and to put chemicals into the skimmer.
What happened was I vacuumed debris off the bottom of the pool and watched it shoot right back into the pool, unfiltered.
Most pools yes.
This pool has the 'debris cannister" (the only thing that is filtered) on the end of the pool. It is just not designed for ease of vacuuming.
I guess I 'could' hook up a 120 volt stand-alone vacuum which has its own filter bag; but that's a LOT more expensive than just buying a long hose (or securely connecting two shorter hoses).
I understand. As I said above, this pool has the "self cleaning" jets sprinkled about. Their job is to stir up the pool (the thing looks like a whirlpool when they're operating - it mixes better than a pot of boiling water!) so that the debris ends up at the far end where the drain is.
From that one drain, the dirty water goes through the filter, and then back to the pool clean.
In effect, there is no place to 'put' the Polaris system, since it would be permanently installed. (BTW, does your Polaris have its own filter bag? Does it work for fine debris?).
Anyway, the 'good news' is that the cleaning system 'mostly works'. Therefore, manual vacuuming of the grains of sand and rocks blown into the pool are mostly what I need to vacuum up.
I tried the garden hose style vacuums, but they were too dinky for such a large pool (10 feet deep).
Any and all advice is always appreciated!
Hi Oren,
That seems like a GREAT idea. All I'd need would be, I think, two male:female fittings, and then the whole thing might work!
a) I would mostly use the shorter hose (35') for the deep end. b) When the shallow end needs work, I'd connect the male:female end onto each hose (two fittings) and that should give me the longer length without leaks.
The bottom diagram of this web page shows what the "debris cannister" location looks like.
It's at the end of the 60 foot long pool.
I see what you're saying. Sounds like a crazy system to me. While there is a lot of large debris that any skimmer catches, eg leaves, there is also a lot of small debris, eg pollen from trees, smaller pieces of leaves, etc that a conventional system would remove via the skimmers going to the filter. In the system you have, if I understand it correctly, that stuff has to sink to the bottom first and make it;s way over to the bottom drain.
I do see your need for a 60ft hose if you want to rely on vacuuming. How often do you need to vacuum with this system? I'm here in NJ with a pool with a reasonable amount of trees and plants nearby and the only time we vacuum is maybe at the beginning of the season when we open the pool. And then only if there is a large amount of debris that made it into the pool, eg leaves, and it's located in clusters or areas that make it worthwhile. For the rest of the season, the Polaris does the whole job. Polaris can also do the opening part too, just that it would take longer, more bag emptying and if the stuff is mostly in a couple places, the vacuum can do it quicker/easier.
The Polaris has a bag that's on the unit. It holds about a grapefruit size worth of debris. On typical days, it can go for several days before needing to be emptied. If there is a storm and more leaves wind up in the pool, then it would need to be emptied more frequently. The pool is 48K gallons.
They have a regular bag and also one for fine debris. Pretty much only use the regular bag, as that catches everything. I think part of what happens is as the bag starts to catch leaves, etc, that in turn traps more of the finer stuff too. When the bag is emptied, it's a mix of leaves, some wood mulch, insects, sand, etc.
The way the Polaris works is it has it's own booster pump which is connected to the returning water going to the pool. The Polaris has a floating hose which connects to a twist on fitting in the pool wall that goes to that pump. Obviously not an easy retrofit for your pool. There are other similar robotic cleaners that just connect to AC that you could look into if you;re interested.
How often do you have to do that and how long does it take? I found manuevering the vacuum to be a PIA and it takes quite a while to do even modest sections.
I understand ... but don't have the experience to know whether it will work.
If I go with the larger hose (2" versus 1 1/2 inch), friction losses will be lower but it will be more unwieldy and I then have to adapt the fitting to a 1 1/2 inch male fitting on both ends anyway.
So, I'm realizing, the best of both worlds, might be a half-length of 1 1/2 inch hose (for just the deep end) and another half length of the larger hose (with appropriate fittings) for the far end.
The problem now, is locating screw-type couplings to fit.
My pool is apparently 38K gallons, so, the Polaris should work, in theory.
For me, it's only the finer, heavier stuff (grains of sand and rocks) that the Paramount in-floor cleaning system misses.
But I think you've answered my question. I thought the polaris was filtered by the filter pump - but - it seems it uses its own bag as the filter - which is good because I would then not need to connect to the filter pipes.
Interestingly, the builders apparently left an unused screw-type port in the middle of the pool (where it belongs), which has a pipe that seems to go to the pumphouse, but, at the pumphouse, it's capped off with a jandy valve and a cap.
Presumably that's where I'd put a pump that just runs the vacuum system. All my pumps are 2.2 horsepower (how large is the one that runs your Polaris?).
That's exactly what I have - only it was put in by the builder and never completed. I guess it was an 'option'.
That may be an option. But, for now, it's the manual vacuum that I need just to get the heavy small debris (sand & rocks) that the cleaner system seems to miss.
I have been using a garden-hose vacuum (which stinks). It takes about an hour a week, but, it doesn't work all that well (and always leaves a bit of sand lying on the bottom).
I suspect, once I get the manual vacuum to work, that a half hour or less a week will get rid of the heavy stuff that blows into the pool from the wind (it's a very windy area, quite exposed).
I think two smaller hoses with a 'secure' fitting is where I'm leaning.
Looking at this web site, I should be able to find a fitting that works:
Then, I can connect the two hoses.
I guess I also need a very short length on the vacuum head also.
Thanks. I had looked at places like this:
I wonder what size the END FITTING is on the 2" hose. I presume it's a bigger fitting than the 1 1/2 inch hose?
I'll need to call one of the suppliers to see if they know as I can visualize it either way.
That's right. Clean return water goes into the Polaris. At the bottom of the Polaris, there are 3 small jets inside an 1 1/2" opening that shoot water up and into the bag that's on top of the unit. Those water jets create a suction effect at the bottom that pulls in the debris. It also has a wagging tail with a foam cover that rubs the pools surface as it moves along.
That sounds like a connection for the Polaris. Mine is in the middle of the long side of the pool, about 18" down from the water surface.
1 hp. You can get the pump packaged together with the Polaris. It's on it's own switch so that when the filter pump is on, you can have the Polaris on or off. I think another advantage of the Polaris is when it's running it helps get the pool circulated faster as you have the return water from it going randomly all over the pool, including the bottom, where it spends a lot of it's time.
I would think you could probably just use 1 1/2" and it would be OK. You should be able to get an idea by seeing how much vacuum effect you have from whatever the longest lenght of hose you have now. Also, if you can close off some of the other intakes, that will create more suction on the hose you want. I have to close off all but the vacuum hose to get good suction.
Of course, when you do that you want to be careful. If that remaining intake gets closed too, it could cause so much vacuum pressure it could cause piping to collapse. I think that is only a concern where they have used flexible PVC underground. Don't know what they use out there, but here on the east coast, flex PVC is very common. And you might not know it because they transition to regular PVC before it exists the ground at the pool eqpt pad.
This is the part you need to connect two 1.5 inch pool vacuum hoses.
As a followup, fundamenally, I 'made' a set of fittings to connect two
35-feet hoses together. Now I have 72 feet (see why below) of 1 1/2 inch hose.Chronology:
I then used that fitting to connect the two hoses!
As for the 2 inch opening in the Paramount Pool Cleaner cleaning cannister:
a. I bought a 2" slip fitting (2 inch male threads on one end, with a two inch slip fitting on the other end).
b. I bought a 2" to 1.5" bushing.
Now, I can stick the 1.5 inch male facuum hose end into the paramount debris cannister with a 36 foot 1.5 inch vacuum hose on the vacuum for the deep end of the pool.
When I need to vacuum the shallow end (much less often), I can now connect the two hoses.
If I run the two 10-amp pumps for 10 hours a day, there is little need to vacuum (one pump stirs the pool and is connected to the skimmers, but it's unfiltered; the other pump is filtered and connects to the debris cannister
- so both pumps need to be on to clean the pool).
But if I run the two 2.2 horsepower pumps for half that time (about 5 hours a day), then I need to use this newly made vacuum contraption to vacuum up some of the debris left over. That vacuuming takes about 10 minutes; but it takes another ten minutes to hook up the hoses to the debris cannister (getting it primed is the hardest part).
Anyway, thanks to all - I now have a reasonable solution!
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