Skimmer brushes versus mat

[joesandy1822]

I am having a hard time keeping up with the elm leaves coming in from my neighbor's tree lately. We've had a lot of wind and rain, and the skimmer mat clogs with the leaves frequently. I've found it a couple times struggling and sucking air because it was plugged to the point that it prevented enough water to get to the pump.

I wondered if any of you use the skimmer brushes that hang down as opposed to using a mat? I've read that supposedly they catch all the leaves and debris as well as a mat, but still allow the water to pass, preventing the pump from being starved of water. I would really love to know your experience, and if this is true. We are going on vacation soon, and will be gone for a week. I hate the thought of my pump burning up, and I'm willing to give these a try if they work.

Thanks for any input!

Sandy

 

[HTH]

Use a float switch after the skimmer to turn off the pump when it is not getting enough water. You may need to add a chamber between the skimmer and the pump to put it in.

I would use brushes followed by mats.

 

[TekWarren]

My skimmer is just leaf net, brushes, then pump. I do have a small mat also the previous owner left that looks like it might go into the skimmer box but in place of the brushes. I haven't tried using it. The net has gotten pretty full once or twice but I check it daily and rinse the brushes every other day or so.

I've mentioned this in a couple other threads something I'm trying. I put a plastic milk crate in front in front of my skimmer. Inside of it I put water plants (now just hyacinths) to act as a pre-filter. The crate has smaller "holes" in it than other milk crates I've seen currently that you can buy but not super small. It will catch really big things and the plants will catch some stuff, and some will get past into the leaf net or brushes. Even if the crate collected a lot of stuff it would not block off the skimmer so there is no danger of that happening. I can also still slip some quilt batting into the crate to catch the finer algae. Here is a pic before I took out the water lettuce and put more hyacinth in:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95980543@N05/9162522214/