What Works/What Doesn't
Inventions & more inventions!
The Government Patent Office is full of ideas that promise to "remove floating leaves and debris" from your swimming pool without effort.
Most popular is the idea of a net on the side of the pool with a water jet creating a circular flow in the pool.
This idea may work in hot tubs and small round pools. There is an easy (and cheap) way to see if this idea works in YOUR pool.
Hold a leaf net in the pool while you aim a water hose into it with full force. See if you can generate a circular flow in YOUR pool! Keep in mind that pool pump pressure is much less than house pressure!
A small toy like example is on eBay or Amazon for less than $40. Larger ones are more expensive and just as ineffective, regardless of placement in the pool.
Download similar design patents here.
Getting leaves out of a pool!
There are four ways to collect and remove leaves from your pool:
- Go get them. To stay dry, most people use various net/pole combinations
- Put your net in the pool and wait for the leaves to accidently come by and accidently enter the net (or more likely, get soaked and sink) and then use method #1.
- Get a chair and sit by your skimmer basket 24/7. Notice that it ALWAYS fills up! Too bad that the collection basket is so small! The minute you turn your back it fills up and the pump is sucking air!
- Put a Leafinator® in front of your skimmer basket. Now the Leafinator® bag will ALWAYS fill up and you won’t care that the skimmer basket is so small!
Like most good ideas, after you watch it work you’ll say “why didn’t I think of that!”
The Leafinator® Patent Claim
There are three important words that make the Leafinator® work - Location, Location, Location!
The Features and FAQS page detail all of the parts and features that make the Leafinator® a working partner of your skimmer. Seriously, it takes more than just location to make this idea REALLY WORK!
The basic idea is simple! •Use the skimmer to attract the leaves. •Restrict the skimmer opening to force the water to go where it can be “cleaned” before it goes into the skimmer. •Use two scientifically designed water jets to force the debris into a bag positioned perpendicular to the pool wall IN FRONT OF THE SKIMMER!
US Patent #7,455,767