Results for "shop vac"

Looked at the forecast last night and there's a real hard freeze coming — the kind where you can almost feel the air bite right through your jacket the second you step outside. My inground pool needs to be winterized properly, but I don't own an air compressor and I'm not sure it's worth renting one. I do have a decent shop vac that has a blow mode on it, and I'm wondering if that's actually enough to push water out of the skimmer lines and return lines, or if it's just going to move air around without really clearing anything dangerous.

The thought of a cracked pipe or a busted fitting — that dull, hollow thud you hear when frozen water splits PVC — is enough to make me want to do this right the first time. But how do I actually know when the lines are empty? Is there a sound change, a feel difference in the air coming out? I want to make sure I'm not just plugging a line that still has water sitting in a low spot somewhere.…more

Found myself in a debate with a neighbor and now I'm second-guessing everything I thought I knew about winterizing my inground pool. We get legitimate hard freezes here — not just a few nights of light frost — and I want to make sure I'm not cracking my skimmer housing this year.

My neighbor swears by dropping a half-filled milk jug into the skimmer and calling it a day, but a guy at the pool store told me I really need antifreeze poured in there or my skimmer will crack no matter what. A friend who closed pools professionally said just blow the lines and plug it — no antifreeze needed. Now I've got three different opinions and I'm reading about Gizzmos, rubber expansion plugs, foam backer rod, and antifreeze on top of all of it.

After blowing out the skimmer line with a shop vac, what actually needs to go into the skimmer, in what order? Is the antifreeze genuinely necessary or is that the pool store upselling me? And does it matter whether I use a Gizzmo versus a rubber plug versus the milk jug trick?…more

After ignoring winterization last fall, my pool pipes started making weird cracking sounds this spring and now I'm staring at burst pipes and algae soup. I'm determined not to repeat that nightmare! I know it involves chemicals and lowering water levels, but I'm clearly missing something important in my process.

What's the complete step-by-step process for winterizing? How long should I plan for this whole ordeal, and what are the critical steps I probably screwed up last time? I want to make sure I'm protecting against freeze damage while keeping the water in decent shape for spring startup.…more

About three YouTube tutorials into winterizing my pool without draining and I've somehow made my equipment situation ten times worse. My neighbor told me I don't actually have to drain my entire pool to winterize it properly, but I'm not sure if that's true or how to do it safely.

I'd love to avoid the hassle and cost of draining and refilling if possible. What's the proper way to winterize without emptying the whole thing? I want to make sure I don't damage my equipment or pool structure by doing it wrong.…more

Staring at my pool after that brutal cold snap hit last week, I'm scrambling to winterize but drowning in conflicting advice about which chemicals I actually need. Some people say I need a whole arsenal of closing chemicals, others tell me just throw a tarp on it and call it good.

I really don't want to deal with a swamp when I open it back up in spring, but I also don't want to buy a bunch of stuff I don't actually need. What are the must-have chemicals for winterizing? I've heard about algaecide and antifreeze but not sure what else or if those are even necessary.…more

Three weeks ago my husband and I bought our first house with an inground vinyl pool, and now everyone is telling us we need to close it for winter — but nobody can agree on exactly what that means. We have a mesh safety cover, and I've gotten completely opposite advice about how much water to drain out before we put it on. One neighbor says drop it below the skimmer, another says below the returns, and my pool store guy shrugged and said we might not even need to lower it at all with a mesh cover?

I honestly have no idea what any of those terms even mean yet, or where those parts are on my pool. I'm afraid of draining too much and damaging the liner, or not draining enough and having pipes freeze and crack over the winter. Is there a standard answer here, or does it really depend on what type of cover you're using?

Also — a few people have mentioned that the rules are different for above-ground pools and solid covers, and now I'm even more confused. Can someone break this down in plain language for a complete first-timer?…more

During every fall closing season, I find myself second-guessing the advice I get at the pool store. This year I'm closing my inground pool on my own for the first time, and the store recommended I pick up a Gizzmo for the skimmer. The thing is, my neighbor has been closing his pool for years using nothing more than a rubber plug and a jug of antifreeze poured into the skimmer basket — and his skimmer has never cracked.

So now I'm wondering: does a Gizzmo actually do something fundamentally different, or is it just a more expensive version of the same idea? And the guy at the store also mentioned keeping the skimmer cover plate on top. Is that step necessary if I already have the Gizzmo in place, or is that overkill?…more