Why post, if you haven't even tried it... This weekend I had a similar idea. Only I actually had the correct fitting. My first test I just stuck the hose in the water to try it, and it seemed to work. Then I attached the vacuum head, and enough hose to reach around the pool. I found I had no suction at all. It turns out that a shop vacuum does not have enough suction power to suck through all the length of hose you need to vacuum the bottom of a pool.
Being a persistent bastard, I went back and tried with the short hose again. The second problem I found is as soon as the shop vacuum is full, you lose all suction power. You see, even though it is a wet vacuum, the vacuum itself works by sucking air, not water. As soon as you are out of air space, you lose your suction power.
Now I know what you are thinking. If you put a hole in the bottom of your shop vacuum to drain the water, again you lose all suction power. So the idea might work if you have a 4 inch deep wading pool, and don't mind emptying regularly. However, for any normal size pool, a shop vacuum is simply the wrong type of device.
You need to make a return hose for the exhaust because the vacuum will fill up with water within seconds and it will start shooting out of the exhaust. Also, the vacuum isn't ment to be used as a pump so after a while it will probably go bad.
Why post, if you haven't even tried it... This weekend I had a similar idea. Only I actually had the correct fitting. My first test I just stuck the hose in the water to try it, and it seemed to work. Then I attached the vacuum head, and enough hose to reach around the pool. I found I had no suction at all. It turns out that a shop vacuum does not have enough suction power to suck through all the length of hose you need to vacuum the bottom of a pool.
docbillnet 6 months ago
Being a persistent bastard, I went back and tried with the short hose again. The second problem I found is as soon as the shop vacuum is full, you lose all suction power. You see, even though it is a wet vacuum, the vacuum itself works by sucking air, not water. As soon as you are out of air space, you lose your suction power.
docbillnet 6 months ago
Now I know what you are thinking. If you put a hole in the bottom of your shop vacuum to drain the water, again you lose all suction power. So the idea might work if you have a 4 inch deep wading pool, and don't mind emptying regularly. However, for any normal size pool, a shop vacuum is simply the wrong type of device.
docbillnet 6 months ago
You need to make a return hose for the exhaust because the vacuum will fill up with water within seconds and it will start shooting out of the exhaust. Also, the vacuum isn't ment to be used as a pump so after a while it will probably go bad.
chris123456789799 8 months ago
You gotta love the redneck ingenuity in this device... classic!
Funnyskilletgirl777 1 year ago
Is that safe?
noctis1 1 year ago
@noctis1 I honestly have no clue if it's safe or if it even works, lol. We never actually got around to trying it out.
littledrummerjay 1 year ago
Do u have to dig a big hole to drain the 20,000 gallon shop vac? How long does it take to refill the pool after you suck all the water out of it??
lisawinehouse 1 year ago
haha cute video. I think it would probably work ... did ya ever try it?
ashleylynn1016 1 year ago