It is that time of the year Spring has Sprung and the swimming pool season is just around the corner, The first clean is one of the most important clean of the swimming pool season. So during the traditional swimming pool open service it is vital that you swimming pool vacuum hose is in A1 condition.

Prior to setting up your swimming pool vacuum set up ensure a through inspection has taken place on your vacuum hose we list below a few pointers on how to inspect your swimming pool vacuum hose:

1. Lay your Swimming pool vacuum hose out in a straight line
2. Rinse off any winter debris from your hose potentially leaves or general storage cobwebs, we have heard of mice nesting within the hose! So take some care to flush the hose internally with a hose pipe also. Cleaning the hose prior to use within the swimming pool will ensure you will not add any extra unwanted debris into the swimming pool.
3. Your swimming pool hose may have a swivel end (do not worry if yours does not) ensure the swivel is free and rotates 360 degrees, some people apply a small amount of silicone spray to ensure a good slip. Once your happy the swivel is clean and lubed check the other end of the hose typically called the non swivel end, for those of your wondering what the difference is the swivel end should always be connected to the swimming pool vacuum head to allow for a free movement of the head to hose, often non swivel end when connected to the vacuum head can work loose breaking free floating to the surface in turn pulling in air and de-priming the pump (not good) So checking the non swivel end ensure there are no cracks or the end has not become unscrewed from the hose tighten is loose. On some hoses there is an easy identifier for the swivel end Traditionally CERTIKIN have detailed their swivel end with a yellow or blue swivel head, on some versions there is also some embossed writing on the swivel providing information a gentle reminder which end connects to what, very handy.
4. Now the boring bit, start at the swivel end and visually inspect the entire length of the hose, paying specific attention to the ribbed section of the swimming pool hose, the ribbed section over time suffers from compression caused by suction from the swimming pool pump, this compression creates a stress point on the vacuum hose causing hair line cracks to appear, these hair line cracks will cause a lack of suction when using the swimming pool vacuum hose, potentially pull in air and de-prime the swimming pool pump, once more not good. Your hose may vary from 7m to 18m so your inspection time could vary from 5-15mins time spent here could save a lot of unnecessary hard work later.
5. Inspection and cleaning of the hose is complete, now with some further pointers below we help you how to achieve the best service from your swimming pool vacuum hose long term.

Taking care of your swimming pool hose and ensuring you have the correct hose:

1. Always remove debris from your hose upon completion of a pool clean
2. Ensure when in use the hose is not allowed to kink, this often results in a weak spot being created within the hose, couple that with an efficient swimming pool pump and the hose with kink restricting flow to the swimming pool pump and could potentially result in pump failure be warned.
3. Your swimming pool hose should always be long enough, when buying a swimming pool vacuum hose for the first time or replacement ensure you locate either your vacuum hose suction location or your nearest skimmer, often swimming pool vacuum points are located in the center of the length of the swimming pool allowing you to purchase the shortest hose possible, the longer the hose is the more loss of suction you will get so never over order the length of the hose more than you require! (top tip)
4. To ensure you get the correct length tie a piece of string to your vacuum head and immerse the head whilst connected to your telescopic pole to the far diagonal corner of your swimming pool, gentle pull the other end of the string to the vacuum point, and mark the a point on the string with a coloured pen. Now measure the string in Meters and add 1m to the total length, typically vacuum hoses come in lengths 7,9,11,12,15 and 18m hose lengths select the closet hose length nearest to your measurement always round up
5. Storage is absolutely key to long life and good house keeping, the number one failure reason is UV damage the vacuum hoses when left in the sun will go brittle so when not in use ensure the hose is kept well out of the sun, ideally kept in a box or better still on a Vacuum reel, the Vacuum reels ensure the hose does not kink and the coil is kept in good order, if you have left the hose outdoors all winter we would recommend replacement as a matter of course due to UV and frost damage.

Other Top Swimming pool hose tips:

Consider an inline leaf trap, this will catch the leafs and debris before it reaches the swimming pool pump you can see clearly when the trap is full and needs emptying without running back and forth to the pool plant room.

Try a vacuum plate or Kornea, this plate attaches to the skimmer pot, by removing the floating bobbing weir and attaching the vac plate to the skimmer basket allows you once more to catch debris before it reaches the pump.

Hose storage reels are neatest easiest way to both deploy the hose into the swimming pool for use and the most aesthetically pleasing when storing rather than a hose kicking around the pool surround.

For those connecting your vacuum hose to skimmers where possible ensure the hose is connected through the skimmer mouth into skimmer suction point, if the hose reaches out of the pot over the pool surround and coping this can cause long term grazing to the hose wall and potentially wear through causing the pump to de-prime (not good)

We hope this information may help you achieve a longer service from your swimming maintenance equipment and help understand best practice for use when cleaning a swimming pool, over the forthcoming months our aim is to provide informed experienced tips even if it is the basics as we all have to start somewhere.