Bought another house with an older pool. Not enough suction to pump?

[StumpedTechy]

Okay last house was the first house I had with a pool. During the time I replaced the heater, I also replaced the pump, and did other minor things to it. This pool however is an older pool and it has its own set of issues and I was wondering what I can do to make this work well.

Here is what I have going on -
From pool to the pump I have three pipes that combine to one.
1 for cleaning port
2 for skimmer
3 for main drain
all 3 have on to off valves 90 degree turn offs.
Pump is a SMF Waterway with a replaced pump motor of C48L2PA105C5 which is a 1 and 1/2 HP 115/230 v max load 19.2/9.6 amp
This then feeds into the filter that then outputs to a number of jets around the top of the pool.

My problem is we have an MX8 which is has an in-line filter (before the motor) in the cleaning port. The only problem I have is that I have to almost turn off both the skimmer and the main drain to get enough water flow through the cleaning port. What I am wondering does this mean I just need a higher HP pump like a 2hp that shows almost 50 more GPM?

Example -
Cleaning port fully on
man drain almost fully off
skimmer almost fully off
MX8 moves as much as it is supposed to.

Cleaning port 3/4ths off
Main drain about 1/2 on
Skimmer about1/2 on
MX8 moves super slowly.

Cleaning port on
Main drain on
Skimmer on
MX8 No movement at all.

All information on MX8 basically is verified with no suction at the port with the MX8 removed and just a hand over the port to feel suction.

My biggest problem is if I have the MX8 running and I have the skimmer turned down the top of the water gets a bit more dirty. If I turn down the main drain the debris tends to pool near there untiil MX8 runs over it. We really would like to have a way to have all of these moving enough water to be functional on all 3 pipes. is there any way to do this? Is my thought about the HP of the pump being the key?

 

[duraleigh]

Well, you could get a 2-speed pump and then run on low until you needed to vacuum but I think your expectations are a bit too high.

The solution I see is to run only the suction line during cleaning and then run your skimmer and main drain when you are finished.

Another solution is to get a robot and eliminate the suction line comp[letely but it sounds like the cleaner is working reasonably well for you so no need to spend on a robot.

How often do you have to vacuum to keep your pool clean?

 

[StumpedTechy]

Well, you could get a 2-speed pump and then run on low until you needed to vacuum but I think your expectations are a bit too high.

The solution I see is to run only the suction line during cleaning and then run your skimmer and main drain when you are finished.

Another solution is to get a robot and eliminate the suction line comp[letely but it sounds like the cleaner is working reasonably well for you so no need to spend on a robot.

How often do you have to vacuum to keep your pool clean?

I am actually running the MX8 daily. This is why I was wanting to mae it all run at the same time. Because I want the MX8 to get whaat has gone down to the bottom of thepool with the skimmer getting the top of the pool. Am I running this too long> the MX8 takes wuite ab it of time to do a full cleaning of the pool.