top picks for skimmer baskets ... big difference

If you have certain trees around your pool, then this time of year can be quite challenging keeping your pool clean.Specifically, live oaks have what I call "hard shell" leaves and they fall constantly in the spring. As they fill up the skimmers, the pool pump starves for water and will suck in air causing the pump motor to get hot and eventually eliminating the system's ability to filter the water causing it to get cloudy.

Simple solution in most cases is to add new skimmer baskets ... depending on what type of skimmer you have (usually indicated by the name on the skimmer lid), here's our top choices to keep up with those hard shell leaves:

• American products and Aladdin make a skimmer basket with a floating weir ... these can also fit in Pentair skimmers. The basket is very deep and much sturdier than others. The weir never wears out or gets stuck like normal weirs do, and they are not prone to sucking air as quickly as others

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• SwimPro Baskets - next best skimmer is one with a middle that comes up, allowing water to get to pump even when basket is full of leaves. 

 Naturally, the more you clean the baskets the cleaner your pool will be but the type of basket you have will make a huge difference! Also, don't forget to clean out the pump basket every time you empty out the skimmer baskets.