Vacuuming a pool is a standard maintenance procedure that every pool owner should observe to help keep the pool water clean and clear as well as to maintain the surfaces. It is recommend that you vacuum your pool when ever it is required, instead of sticking to a rigid schedule. Follow these easy steps on how to vacuum your pool.
How to vacuum your pool
Before you start the vacuuming process, air must be expelled from all the components of the vacuum. This is important to prevent infiltration of air into the pool pump intake causing the pump to lose its prime. Running pumps dry, even for short periods can lead to damage that will require replacing the pump.
You will need to first remove bugs and leaves from the pool, with a leaf rake. Clean your skimmer basket and replace it in the skimmer. Backwash your filter or clean the filter cartridge. Turn on the pump. Uncoil your vacuum hose and lay one end of your hose into the skimmer basket below the water level (Do not connect it to the vacuum plate). Hold the other end of the hose in front of one of the water returns and prime the hose until you can no longer hear air escaping from the end in the skimmer basket. Connect the end you are holding to the vacuum head, while keeping both under water. Make sure the pole is extended and lower the vacuum head onto the floor of the pool. Turn off the pump and install the vacuum plate into the skimmer. Connect the end of the hose that was in the skimmer to the vacuum plate. Turn the pump back on. If you need to lift the hose end out of the water to fit it, make sure you do so quickly to prevent excess air getting into the hose.
Position yourself properly so that you can see the bottom of the pool clearly. Slowly move the vacuum head away from you and then back towards you across the bottom of the pool ensuring you slightly overlap the previous path with every new pass of the head. Ensure you are rolling the vacuum head slowly so that you do not stir up the debris on the bottom as it may cloud the pool and lower visibility. If the head of your vacuum gets stuck in the pool when maneuvering over walls or stairs, switching off the pool pump for a few moments interrupts the vacuum force and releases it.
During the process of vacuuming, bigger debris such as leaves may collect in the pump strainer 
basket thus cause the vacuum force to become slow. Cleaning the strainer regularly will help in restoring the force of the pump. When vacuuming with the multiport valve in the ‘filter’ setting, the filter pressure should carefully be monitored at intervals. If the pressure goes beyond the manufactures recommendations, then you should stop vacuuming and backwash the filter to get it to the normal pressure. After you are done with vacuuming, remove the vacuum head from the pole and then empty residual water from the vacuum hose. Clear out debris in the skimmer and pump strainer baskets and reopen any valves to extra skimmers to enable total circulation. The filter may need final backwashing, especially if the multiport valves were set in the “filter” position. If you vacuumed the pool with the multiport valve in the “waste” setting, simply return the valve to the filter setting and add in freshwater to increase the level in the pool. After you have added fresh water, test the chemical levels of your pool and restore the right balance of chemicals.
