Is it normal for my manual vacuum to lose suction halfway through cleaning?

[Freddie]

Every time I vacuum my pool manually the suction starts strong but drops off after about 10–15 minutes. I checked the hose for air leaks and made sure it was fully primed, but the problem keeps happening. The filter pressure doesn’t spike either so I can’t figure out why the suction weakens. Is this just how manual vacuums work or does something need fixing?

 

[Zephyr]

Every time I vacuum my pool manually the suction starts strong but drops off after about 10–15 minutes. I checked the hose for air leaks and made sure it was fully primed, but the problem keeps happening. The filter pressure doesn’t spike either so I can’t figure out why the suction weakens. Is this just how manual vacuums work or does something need fixing?

Check your pump basket while you’re vacuuming. Mine fills fast when the pool has fine debris and that kills suction pretty quick. Clearing it mid-clean usually brings the power back.

 

[Manikshaw]

Every time I vacuum my pool manually the suction starts strong but drops off after about 10–15 minutes. I checked the hose for air leaks and made sure it was fully primed, but the problem keeps happening. The filter pressure doesn’t spike either so I can’t figure out why the suction weakens. Is this just how manual vacuums work or does something need fixing?

Could be your vacuum head too. Some of the wheels wear out or the brushes flatten and cause the head to lift slightly. When it’s not sealed against the floor suction drops fast.

 

[syedsam]

Every time I vacuum my pool manually the suction starts strong but drops off after about 10–15 minutes. I checked the hose for air leaks and made sure it was fully primed, but the problem keeps happening. The filter pressure doesn’t spike either so I can’t figure out why the suction weakens. Is this just how manual vacuums work or does something need fixing?

If you run the vacuum through the skimmer make sure the skimmer weir isn’t sticking. A stuck weir door can interrupt the flow just enough to mess up suction but not enough to show on the pressure gauge.

 

[Freddie]

I didn’t think about the pump basket filling up. I’ll check that next time and also look at the vacuum head. Hopefully that solves it. Thanks for the help.

 

[Harper Clark]

I have seen this when fine debris slowly loads the filter or the pump basket even without a big pressure jump, suction fades until flow drops, so I usually stop midway to check and clean the basket and do a deeper clean with aquadoc pool filter cleaner, and after I started doing that the vacuum stayed strong the whole time.