One part of routine pool maintenance is cleaning your pool skimmer. Knowing how to clean pool skimmer baskets regularly is essential to keeping your pool running properly. Pool skimmers collect everything you don’t want floating around you while you swim. This can range from leaves to small animals. In this article, we’ll explain multiples ways how to clean your pool skimmer.
This article contains insight from the inventors of The Skimmie. This is a product that makes cleaning your pool skimmer much safer and quicker than the traditional methods. No money or gifts were exchanged for this interview. The Skimmie inventors are extremely passionate about pool cleanliness and innovation. The Skimmie is our favorite tool for cleaning pool skimmers.
Benefits Of A Clean Pool Skimmer
The importance of cleaning your pool skimmer regularly cannot be overstated. If a pool skimmer gets full and is not cleaned out, your pool will be compromised. A full skimmer will strain your pool equipment and this will lead to damage. Often your pool equipment is hidden so you may not realize it has a problem until it’s too late. Therefore, it’s easier to check and clean your pool skimmer as much as possible.
Problems when not cleaning pool skimmer:
- Fills with debris that can get sucked into the filter. This then causes the water to not be dirty because the filter becomes dirty and it’s unable to clean water.
- Water can be blocked from entering the filtration system causing air to be sucked in. This will undoubtedly strain the pump and equipment.
- If the skimmer becomes full it cannot pull in the debris off of the top of the pool, leaving it dirty.
- When debris is sitting in the pool, the tannins and other natural elements from leaves and debris can change the water chemistry. Furthermore, extreme neglect can cause staining of your pool’s floor/walls.
Financial impact when neglecting skimmer cleaning:
- Potential equipment failure costing thousands of dollars
- Additional chemical costs for having to rebalance the water more frequently
- Loss of fun and pool ROI because you cannot swim in a dirty pool that is not chemically balanced
- Additional pool service costs due to multiple visits for cleaning and balancing water chemistry
How Often Should A Pool Skimmer Be Cleaned?
There isn’t a one size fits all answer to establishing a pool skimmer cleaning schedule. A pool skimmer collects the unwanted items in your pool water, including leaves, branches, small animals, etc. Therefore, certain times of the year require more regular cleaning than others. In the summertime, you should clean your pool skimmer a couple times per week. However, in the Fall season when trees are shedding, you may need to clean your pool skimmer once or twice per day.
Traditional Way: How To Clean Pool Skimmer
Knowing how to clean pool skimmer baskets is useful, but it’s always been a pain. The traditional way to clean a pool skimmer is anything but glorious. First, you will need to get down on your hands and knees. Then, you’ll need to stick your finger in the skimmer lid hole to remove the lid. Finally, you need to put your hand down into the basket and pull it out to throw away the debris inside. The big pain of cleaning pool skimmers, aside from the physical strain, is grabbing the dirty skimmer basket full of snakes, spiders, mice and whatever else finds its way into your pool.
New and Improved Way: How To Clean Pool Skimmer
Our team recently visited the Pool and Spa Show in Atlantic City, New Jersey. This was a great place to see the best and newest releases in pool technology. At the show, we saw an impressive demo of The Skimmie. As pool owners ourselves, we know first-hand the burden of cleaning pool skimmer baskets. Therefore, we were very impressed at the new and improved way to conduct this chore.
- Lightweight and Easy to Use: Our 57-inch size patented anodized aluminum pole is designed to be lightweight and easy to use. With a hook that allows you to lift the skimmer lid and basket without bending down, and a universal handle that creates a centerpoint of gravity, The Skimmie makes cleaning your pool effortless.
- Durable Fine Mesh Skimmer Net: The Skimmie’s 6.5″ x 4.5″ heavy-duty, tear-resistant, ultra-fine mesh net is specifically designed to trap and collect all floating debris in your pool’s skimmer well before it enters the filtration system. With a well-balanced mesh, scooping and emptying debris is made ultra-easy.
Instead of cleaning your pool skimmer basket the traditional way, we recommend using The Skimmie. Nobody really wants to put their hand into the skimmer basket multiple times per week. For folks with bad backs or knees, the bending down motion can even be uncomfortable.
The Skimmie is a simple but brilliant skimmer pole that has a hook at the end. The hook allows you to remove the skimmer lid and basket without having to bend over or touch anything gross. It’s truly a lifesaver for folks taking care of a pool. Best of all, The Skimmie can also be used as a skimmer net for your other pool maintenance. When compared to other skimmer nets, it’s a comparable price but we haven’t seen any others with the skimmer lid/basket removal hook.
Summary
Cleaning your skimmer is a non-negotiable part of pool maintenance. However, cleaning the pool skimmer has been difficult since pools were invented. You need to bend over/down multiple times per week and stick your hand in gross and potentially dangerous collections. Now, we found the Skimmie which allows you to easily and safely clean your pool skimmer without any trouble. Whether you use the traditional way or invest into a Skimmie, we encourage you to empty your pool skimmer basket frequently.
