My Hayward Critter is Slowing Down

by Felicia Williams

The Haywood vacuum critters are a lifesaver. I wrote in an earlier post that I purchased Wanda the Whale and have been extremely happy with her since. She saved me countless hours of standing out in the hot sun vacuuming the pool.

Satiated Wanda

What I have found, however, is that when Wanda is satiated (a.k.a. dirty filter) she's not too excited about cleaning the pool. One morning I noticed that after allowing her to run all night, the bottom of the pool was not clean. That was unusual for Wanda. In addition to the dirty pool, it looked like Wanda had taken a Valium or two because she was moving in extreme slow motion.

Cleaning the Critter's Digestive System

What I later learned was that Wanda was full. She was unable to digest the newly found food at the bottom of the pool so she just moped around hoping that I would figure out her problem. In addition to cleaning out the basket, which was filled with leaves, I realized I had not cleaned my diatomaceous earth filter since I opened the pool at the beginning of the summer.

Before

After

So, I did a thorough filter cleaning. I hosed off the filter fingers, dumped out the old (and very dirty) diatomaceous earth, reassembled the filter and added new DE. Once I cleaned out the filter, attached Wanda the Whale and put her in the pool, she zipped around the pool like a hungry whale in search of krill.

Lesson learned: If your Hayward vacuum critter looks like it's slowing down, it’s an indication that your filter is dirty.

About the Author: Felicia Williams is a wife, mother and grandmother who likes to write about a host of topics.

Amazon Affiliate Disclosure: HouseholdTidbits.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Comments: If you wish to comment, leave a tip or have questions about an article, please email me at comments[@]householdtidbits[.]com. Understand, however, that if you do send a valid tip, comment or question, it may be added to the comment section. Don't fret if you don't see a comment section. I create them on an as-needed basis (spam is automatically deleted).

Last Modified: 24 March 2020