Pool Skimmer or Surface Skimmer?

When you own a swimming pool, we think it’s very similar to owning a boat. Now don't get us wrong, we're from Florida—we LOVE boats. Just as much as we love clean pools. Boats are something you enjoy immensely, you need to keep clean all the time, water damage is always a factor, and it’s the envy of all of your friends. But both pools and boats are worth it. With a swimming pool, you can easily take a cold dip during a hot summer day, host a pool party, or just relax by the water with a good book.

Despite the obvious benefits of a residential swimming pool, keeping your pool clean and ready to swim can also be a chore. A well maintained water in your pool is often a full time job and if you’re a first time pool owner, it can sometimes be confusing to figure out what to do.

The first step to cleaning your pool water - skimming. Unfortunately for those of us in the surface pool skimming business, there are two names for pool skimming tools. In many in-ground pools there is a built-in skimmer that works in tandem with the filter to suck in water from your pool and push it through to the filter to be cleaned. Additionally, there are also surface skimmers - either manually operated or robotic pool skimmers, like the Skimdevil Pure, that are used primarily to grab debris from the top of your pool before it sinks to the bottom. Both should be used to keep your pool in optimal shape.

As our pool skimming robot focus on the surface of your pool, we thought it would be helpful to break down the primary differences between both pool skimmers. If you’re looking for a more comprehensive list of how to maintain your pool, we got you covered too. Check out our February blog post that’s full of helpful tips and tricks to getting a cleaner pool.

Ok, so pool skimmers - what’s the deal?

As mentioned, there are two types of skimmers for your pool. One is usually built into in-ground pools and works as a filtration system as well as cleaner for your pool. The other is usually a manual hand skimmer, or, a robotic pool skimmer, that takes care of the debris floating all over the top of your pool.

The experts over at Swim University provided a great comparison of the differences between the two very different types of pool skimmers.

To summarize their very excellent breakdown:

The type of pool skimmer referenced most often is usually a rectangular opening integrated into your pool. It constantly is pulling water in and pushing it towards the filter. This is the place where you find frogs or other little animals that have somehow found their way into the water. It runs continuously and does a fair job of pulling in dirty pool water and cleaning out the larger pieces of debris before it heads to your pool filter. Unlike the Skimdevil Pure, this type of pool skimmer also helps with water circulation. Above ground pools often have a round, circular skimmer that floats around your pool, doing the same type of filtration and circulation. Additionally, these types of skimmers also work in tandem with a pool vacuum, that works to clean the gunk off the bottom and sides of your pool. While this type of pool skimmer does an admirable job of cleaning your pool water, you still need to either hand skim or use a robotic skimmer to get the majority of debris it leaves behind.

When we think “pool skimmer”, we don't think of a built-in skimmer; we think of a surface tool that travels around the top of your pool, cleaning the debris, bugs, and other detritus off the top of your pool. A skimmer like this is vital, as it is the first guard against a dirty pool. Whatever this surface skimmer misses, that dirt sinks to the bottom, clogs up your filter, or turns into a job for your pool vacuum. While a hand skimmer does work, a solar powered robotic pool skimmer, like Skimdevil Pure, is able to work automatically around the clock instead of only when you have time, constantly recharging and cleaning, as is needed for your pool. It helps your other pool tools, and your pool company, work more efficiently, as it is able to quickly and easily clean up the majority of the mess in the pool.

Prevention on the front end - with skimmers, vacuums, filters, chemicals, etc.—means less money spent overall on your pool. It also means that your pool should last longer and have fewer repairs. Sounds like a win-win to us.