should i keep original inlet when i add hayward skimmer?

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G

gtnos

Well-known member
Jun 9, 2013
549
Newcastle, Oklahoma
my hayward through wall skimmer should be here tomorrow. i was originally planning on hard plumbing the inlet side, with a 1 1/2 T fitting and running a pipe out of that T fitting to the skimmer, which i was going to install 2 sections down from the original water inlet. so i would have an underwater inlet and skimmer. both would have their own ball valve shutoffs.

but looking through posts on here about these skimmer installs, i noticed some hooked up the skimmer, but not the original inlet and only had the skimmer.

which way is better or does it matter? i figured more flow in, the better. yesterday i hard plumbed the return and added a cascade waterfall fountain, today i was going to start mocking up the inlet side, getting ready for my skimmer to get here.

thanks!
 
It might actually be nice to have the original inlet too. I know sometimes when I am backwashing my filter I loose suction if I do it very much because of my water level getting to low in skimmer.
 
I've been contemplating getting an in wall skimmer as well and was thinking of doing this exact same thing. Please post some pictures along the way! I'm still working up the nerve to order the skimmer and plunge a knife through the side our perfectly good pool!
 
well good. im just gonna keep to my original plan. in fact, i just came in from hard plumbing inlet side. the original is already plumbed in now, and i have the T with a ball valve installed for the skimmer when it gets here tomorrow.

wozzukes - i feel ya, im a bit nervous about it myself as my wife would be really ticked with me if i screw up our nice new pool. with installing the skimmer first and then cutting the hole, im pretty confident it will go fine. im just going to cut the butterfly gasket in two very carefully. my water level with the heat we are having right now is down 4 inches already, i have delayed filling it due to skimmer coming in, so i probably wont have to do any draining. ill post some pics of everything when im done. as far as the plumbing, you almost cant screw up PVC, as you can assemble it and mock it up before you ever put a drop of glue on it. in fact, the ball valve i have on the T fitting right now isnt even glued at all. i just pressed it on there so i could run the pump. when i install the skimmer, i want the ball valve in a different spot so i did not glue it so that tomorrow i can move it. being that is on the inlet (low pressure side) it should be fine without glue until i re-plumb.
 
Are you going to mount it above the weld seam? That's the other thing keeping me from doing it as I don't really want to lose my water level so I'd want to do it above the weld seam. I know it's possible since a few on here have done it, but again I just need to work up the nerve to try it.

We've been having so much rain here lately that our pool is constantly overflowing! I even backwashed for a while the other day to bring the level down and it's right back up again, which is another reason why I prefer to mount the skimmer as high as possible. I keep a solar cover on the pool whenever we aren't in it to keep the water temp up, so we don't get a lot of evaporation, although with this humidity I doubt much would evaporate anyway!
 
yeah.... im gonna put it up as high as i dare. another member on here did it, and he had success. i too dont want my water level lowered. im going to take advantage of my pool being 1 inch off level too, today i plumbed the drain pipe around the pool to a side that is the highest, that and mounting on the seam should help retain the water level. everything is in place up to the ball valve for the skimmer. just waiting for UPS to deliver it tomorrow and ill get it put in. :party:

in theory, if i mount the skimmer, tighten it up real good, then cut it out, even on the seam the skimmer itself should reinforce the area around the cut, holding everything in place, and preventing any seam tears or other issues...... i hope!!!! :shock:
 
i have the hayward thru the wall skimmer installed already before i got the intex 2650 sand filter.so this year i wanted to install a new inlet also so that i would have the skimmer and the new inlet,everything went good only after the water was filling that i noticed there was a leak between the seal and the big nut.so after some experimenting i just put a can under the plungervalve to keep it level and no more leaks now.
I also wanted put in a 2nd return so i used the intex return and that was the biggist mistake i did.i cut it perfectly tightend it really good put on the plungervalve and then too find out there was leak the same place as the inlet at were you put the seal and thightend the nut.i tried everything to try to seal it but nothing,i even drained the water level below the intex return and put silicon on the outside but nothing:(

So i finally gave up and just stopped filling the pool and let it leak.
Now were thinking of buying a new pool because it now has holes everywhere and the pool is old too.
 

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