How To Improve Water Circulation

Water circulation is critical to maintaining a clear and sparkly pool.  All the water has to go through the filter every day to remove particles.  Efficient circulation is key.  Several factors of efficient circulation are:

Skimmers   Skimmers are important to moving water through the filter.  The more skimmers a pool has the better.  To optimize the skimmers only use automatic pool vacuums that have on-board filters and do not use a skimmer for getting rid of debris.. This leaves the skimmers free for circulation.  Also, keep the skimmers clean and free of debris such as leaves and bugs.  

Pool Vacuum   Use automatic vacuums with on-board filters only.  Automatic vacuums are also helpful in keeping leaves and debris out of the pool which keeps water balance stable.

Main Drain  The main drain provides another way of moving water through the filter and also helps with the deep end water which can become stagnant in the well at the bottom of the pool.

Return Jets  Return jets should be pointed straight out into the pool, not up, down, or sideways.  As counter-intuitive as this may seem, it has given the best results in all pools.

Pool Shape  The best shape for pool circulation is a rectangular pool.  However, if your pool isn't rectangular, using the tips in this article will still give best results.

To test the circulation, put a beach ball on the surface of the water during the filter cycle and see if the ball continually travels around the surface of the water.  If it gets stuck anywhere, the circulation isn't optimal.