How to Get Leaves Out of a Pool

The order, and why it is the order

1. **Turn the pump off and wait ten minutes.** Circulation keeps light debris suspended and pushes it around. Still water lets everything settle into two clear groups - floating and sunk - and you deal with them separately.
2. **Skim the surface with a flat net.** Every leaf you remove here is a leaf you do not have to vacuum, and floating leaves are far quicker to collect than settled ones.
3. **Clear the floor with a deep rake or vacuum.** Move slowly. Fast passes create currents that lift debris into suspension, and then you are waiting for it to settle again.
4. **Empty the skimmer and pump baskets last.** They fill while you work, and emptying them first means doing it twice.
5. **Then turn the pump back on** and let the filter deal with what is left in suspension.

Matching the tool to the job

The pole matters more than the net

Every net, brush and vacuum head attaches to the same pole, and the pole is where people economize and then replace twice. Two figures decide it: length, which has to reach the middle of your pool from the edge, and wall thickness, which decides whether it survives the season.

A 12 ft pole does not reach the center of a pool wider than about 20 ft. Thin-walled poles flex at full extension, and that flex eventually kinks them permanently at a joint. Comparison on best pool skimmers and nets.

Getting leaves out of the pump basket and skimmer

• **Turn the pump off before opening either.** A pump running dry, or drawing air, is a more expensive problem than leaves.
• **Check both, not just the skimmer.** The pump basket fills too, and a full one starves the pump while the skimmer looks fine.
• **Fit a skimmer sock.** Fine mesh over the basket catches what the basket passes, which is most of what eventually loads your filter.
• **Watch the flow, not the calendar.** During leaf fall the baskets may need emptying daily, and a weekly habit is not enough.

What to do with the leaves afterwards

Not back on the deck, and not on a lawn that drains toward the pool. Wet leaves stacked beside a pool blow back in, and leaf-laden runoff carries phosphate into the water the next time it rains - which is exactly what causes the bloom you are trying to avoid.

The picks

Top pick - Heavy leaf fall

ProTuff 490 Promise Pro Pool Leaf Rake, 19.5 in

A wide frame and a deep bag, which is the combination that decides how many passes a leaf drop takes.

The published figure

19.5 in frame with a deep bag; the widest opening in this roundup

Two numbers decide a leaf rake: the width of the opening and the depth of the bag. Width sets how much surface you sweep per pass; depth sets how much you can hold before you stop to empty it.

At 19.5 inches this is at the wide end of what fits comfortably down a standard skimmer throat and around a ladder.

A deep bag is what separates a leaf rake from a flat skimmer net. If you are scooping a heavy autumn drop, depth is the specification that matters.

What it does well

• Wide opening covers more surface per pass
• Deep bag holds a full sweep without emptying
• Reinforced frame, which is where cheap nets fail first

What it costs you

• A full deep bag is heavy on a long pole
• Too bulky for skimming a few surface leaves

Skip it if your daily job is a handful of floating leaves. A flat net is faster and lighter for that.

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Pick 2 - Daily surface skimming

POOLWHALE Pool Leaf Skimmer, flat surface net

The everyday net. Flat, light and quick, for the two-minute pass that stops leaves sinking in the first place.

The published figure

Flat net for surface work, pole not included

A leaf that is still floating costs two minutes to remove. The same leaf on the floor two days later costs a vacuum cycle and has started releasing phosphate into the water.

That is the entire argument for owning a cheap flat net alongside a deep rake: you will actually use it daily, which is the only thing that matters.

Flat nets are wrong for anything on the bottom. Their whole design assumes the debris is on the surface.

What it does well

• Light enough that the daily pass actually happens
• Fast through the water with almost no drag
• Cheap enough to replace without thinking about it

What it costs you

• Useless for anything that has already sunk
• Small capacity

Skip it if you are clearing a heavy drop off the pool floor — that is a deep rake job.

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Pick 3 - Reaching the middle of a wide pool

CKE Telescoping Pool Pole, 16.5 ft, 3-piece aluminum

Wall thickness is the specification that decides whether a pole survives the season, and this one publishes it.

The published figure

16.5 ft extended, 1.3 mm wall thickness, three sections

Every net, brush and vacuum head on this site attaches to a pole, and the pole is where people economize and then replace twice.

1.3 mm wall thickness is the published figure to compare against. Thin-walled poles flex at full extension, and the flex is what eventually kinks them permanently at the joint.

16.5 feet reaches the middle of most residential pools from the edge. A 12 ft pole does not, on anything wider than about 20 feet.

What it does well

• Publishes wall thickness, which most pole listings do not
• 16.5 ft reaches the center of a typical residential pool
• Standard fitting works with every net and brush on this site

What it costs you

• Three sections flex more at full extension than two
• Aluminum at this length is heavy overhead

Skip it if you own a small above-ground pool you can reach across. A 12 ft two-section pole is stiffer and lighter.

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Pick 4 - Catching what the net misses

Coopache Pool Skimmer Socks, 30-pack

A few dollars of fine mesh over the skimmer basket removes more fine debris than any chemical on this site.

The published figure

Fine-mesh elastic liners for the skimmer basket, 30 per pack

A skimmer basket catches leaves. Everything smaller goes through it and into the pump, then into the filter, where it is your filter's problem.

A sock over the basket takes pollen, hair, insects and grit out before any of that happens, and it is the single cheapest upgrade to a pool's water clarity.

They restrict flow as they load. Check them at the same time you check the basket, not weekly.

What it does well

• Removes the fine debris that otherwise loads the filter
• Costs less per season than a single bottle of clarifier
• Extends the interval between filter cleans

What it costs you

• Restricts flow noticeably once loaded, and needs checking often
• Disposable, so there is a small ongoing cost

Skip it if your pump already runs at marginal flow. A loaded sock will starve it.

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