Vacuuming and the single hole skimmer

[SimpleChaos]

Hello all. I have a Pentair skimmer with one hole at the bottom. If I look deeper into the bottom hole I see two others - one coming from the main drain and one going to my pump. The holes beyond the bottom skimmer hole are inaccessable. I've trying to do research on this and it appears that a little swinging door that I could have used to cover up the main drain hole was not installed.

I've been using a vacuum that doesn't require suction (Aquabot Turbo) but I now have a need to vacuum with a stick and vacuum head. When I plug in a vacuum hose to the skimmer hole it works for about a minute then it starts pulling water from the main drain.

I've seen references on this site for a spaceship diverter, but I don't know if that would be functional since my problem is below the single hole of the skimmer. Can anyone offer any advice? Thanks so much!

 

[jblizzle]

Sounds like your main drain and skimmer are connected below the skimmer ... in this case the diverters will not help.

In fact, I am not sure there is any way for you to adjust where the suction comes from besides plugging the skimmer and having all the suction come from the floor.

Can you post any pictures to help us confirm?

 

[SimpleChaos]

Sorry these pics are so crappy -- my pool is cloudy (part of the reason I need to hand vacuum). In the bottom picture you can see a hole off to the right, there is a similar hole off to the left that goes to the main drain.

 

[Bama Rambler]

About the only thing you can do is to seal off the main drain. You can take a piece of plastic or rubber sheet and cover up the drain and then take a sand bag and drop on top of it. That will make the vacuum work.

 

[keene3b07]

does the hole have threads on the inside? if so, it may be designed for this type of diverter. http://sospool.com/product_info.php?cPa ... ts_id=2137

 

[jblizzle]

does the hole have threads on the inside? if so, it may be designed for this type of diverter. http://sospool.com/product_info.php?cPa ... ts_id=2137

Interesting. had not seem one of those before.

Posted with Tapatalk ... sorry if I sound short ... hate typing on phone

 

[Bama Rambler]

There's something to add to the old memory banks! :-D

I hadn't seen those before either.