Intex Side Skimmer Low Water Suction

[Suebe]

Hello! Third year with pool, constant cleaning so we got a Intex Skimmer which seemed to work well for a very short while.

There are 2 inlets, 1 outlet. Is there any problem/issue with plugging one of the inlets (as we do to vacuum)? I did this and works much better. I noticed the outflow slows a bit and the pressure gauge goes low to about 3-4 psi I believe. Any advice appreciated!

 

[AggieBQ95]

If you’re gonna do that - which I don’t think should be an issue - then I would recommend that you take the hoses off of the additional inlet so that water in the hoses doesn’t get stagnant and breeds algae, etc.

 

[DianeF1]

We also have an Intex Skimmer. In order to get it really work we installed a valve and shut off one of the inlet's so we are down to one (like when I vacuum). The skimmer now works wonderfully.

 

[Suebe]

Thanks for the advice, may try adding a valve next season, the pump sounds like it works harder and the gauge goes down to 2-3, should harm the pump?

 

[#40Fan]

I took one of the white-ish gray rubber plugs that came with our pool and cut a hole in it. I unscrewed the cover on the suction side not being used by the skimmer and put the modified plug over the hole and screwed the cap back. It slowed the suction on that side enough to make the skimmer work better without straining the pump and decreasing the return flow too much.