Ancient skimmer box

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AlexPowell

Well-known member
Jan 5, 2023
75
Adelaide/Australia
Pool Size
65000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Salt Water Generator
SWG Type
Astral Viron V35
Hi everyone
I have an ancient pool that I renovated after we bought the house. It has this skimmer box pictured and it does not have a weir.

There is also a pipe that goes to the main drain. If possible I would like to get this working properly as the Australian summer is intense and I want to be able to go on holiday in summer without worrying about the water level dipping below the skimmer level.

How do I go about these two things properly? I did let it dip below skimmer just to see what would happen and it ended up syphoning the pump and did not draw water from the main drain. I know the pipe isn't clogged because I poured water down it when the pool was empty

CheersIMG_20230112_210036.jpgIMG_20230112_210121.jpg
 
@1poolman1 might have some knowledge of a skimmer box like yours. But for now I'd offer a couple suggestions:
1 - They do sell online generic weir doors for skimmer openings to help accommodate aftermarket installs. You really want a weir door to help with water pull into the skimmer.
2 - The drain line is a mystery. No way of knowing if the line broke in the past and developed a leak somewhere. Since the pool was empty at some point did you confirm the drain itself was never plugged? If you see nothing obvious, you may be forced to do a pressure test of that line itself to confirm its integrity.
 
Texas Splash said:
@1poolman1 might have some knowledge of a skimmer box like yours. But for now I'd offer a couple suggestions:
1 - They do sell online generic weir doors for skimmer openings to help accommodate aftermarket installs. You really want a weir door to help with water pull into the skimmer.
2 - The drain line is a mystery. No way of knowing if the line broke in the past and developed a leak somewhere. Since the pool was empty at some point did you confirm the drain itself was never plugged? If you see nothing obvious, you may be forced to do a pressure test of that line itself to confirm its integrity.
Click to expand...
For the main drain - how is it supposed to work? I have no knowledge of how skimmer boxes interact with main drains.

There are two pipes in the skimmer box. Rear goes to the pump and the forward one goes to the main drain. The pump will not draw water up from the main drain because it is easier to simply pull it in through the skimmer. If the level drops - is the water supposed to automatically draw up from the main drain? Because it's not doing that. If it is supposed to do that then I will get some CCTV down it to see what is going on.
 
AlexPowell said:
I have no knowledge of how skimmer boxes interact with main drains.
Click to expand...
The hole closest to the equipment pad should go to the pump. The hole facing the pool should go to the drain "if" it actually is plumbed to the drain. Sometimes the drain is actually never plumbed or it may have been closed in the past if it developed a leak.
 
You need a weir door on the skimmer, a skimmer basket and you need a skimmer float valve for the bottom of the skimmer. The float valve is what controls where water is drawn from in the event that the skimmer gets low on water. Please see the TFP Wiki for more info -

Skimmers - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Also, the folks at INYO Pools have a helpful skimmer ID section and YouTube video -

www.inyopools.com

How To Identify A Pool Skimmer And Parts - INYOPools.com - DIY Resources

In this guide, we’ll show you how to identify your skimmer model; and find its replacement parts using ID numbers and dimensions. Lid Where to Look: Its underside or Top What You’ll See: The skimmer’s model number or the lid’s part number can be used to identify the unit. The model number can be...
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com
 
AlexPowell said:
Hi everyone
I have an ancient pool that I renovated after we bought the house. It has this skimmer box pictured and it does not have a weir.

There is also a pipe that goes to the main drain. If possible I would like to get this working properly as the Australian summer is intense and I want to be able to go on holiday in summer without worrying about the water level dipping below the skimmer level.

How do I go about these two things properly? I did let it dip below skimmer just to see what would happen and it ended up syphoning the pump and did not draw water from the main drain. I know the pipe isn't clogged because I poured water down it when the pool was empty

CheersView attachment 468753View attachment 468754
Click to expand...
If you are concerned about the water level dropping while you are away, you would be better served by an over-the-deck auto-fill device rather than relying on the missing float valve (see JoyfulNoise comment) to protect your equipment. They don't always do what we expect, especially on an older skimmer. Pool Sentry is the most well known in this country, but there are several others that work.
 
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Reactions: JoyfulNoise
Hi everyone,
I did some investigation and it looks like I had washed all the dirt into the main drain prior to painting the pool but hadn't cleaned it out prior to filling it.

I dove down a few times last night with a brush and stirred up all the dirt then sent the robot out leaving the drain cover off overnight. This morning it looked a lot better in there. I will dive down again with a bit of wire and make sure there is nothing clogged in the pipe itself. If there is I'll have to get a long bit of wire to poke it all out from the skimmer box.
 

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AlexPowell said:
Hi everyone,
I did some investigation and it looks like I had washed all the dirt into the main drain prior to painting the pool but hadn't cleaned it out prior to filling it.

I dove down a few times last night with a brush and stirred up all the dirt then sent the robot out leaving the drain cover off overnight. This morning it looked a lot better in there. I will dive down again with a bit of wire and make sure there is nothing clogged in the pipe itself. If there is I'll have to get a long bit of wire to poke it all out from the skimmer box.
Click to expand...

I wonder if you have a “rooter” company there down under that could hydro-jet the line (carefully with low pressure) and blow out debris? They do that around here to clean household drain lines. Just a thought …
 
JoyfulNoise said:
I wonder if you have a “rooter” company there down under that could hydro-jet the line (carefully with low pressure) and blow out debris? They do that around here to clean household drain lines. Just a thought …
Click to expand...

I can try that from the skimmer box yeah. It's too deep to dive down with the pressure washer though.
 
AlexPowell said:
I will get one as they seem useful to have around the house anyway and then use it as a good way of really ensuring it is not blocked.
Click to expand...

The bladder can be a bit tricky to pressurize if there’s too much flow out the end as would happen with a partial blockage but you can usually “pre-swell” by hand and then shove it quickly into the pipe opening. That will give a pretty good flow of water into the pipe and should blow out anything that’s partially blocking the pipe. But yes, it can be very handy to have around the house.
 
So I put a hose line down the pipe and a lot of dirt came out - now there is either a compacted blockage or a 90 degree bend. I measured how far down it was with the hose pipe and it was a little over a metre down so it could be either really.

One question left unanswered is what should the expected behaviour be? If I block off the skimmer opening completely - should the water then be drawn up through the main drain? Or do I need the skimmer float valve to enable this? I am not a plumber but am imagining that without something physically connecting the two pipes there would be no reason for water to be drawn up into the skimmer box and the pump would simply fill with air
 
AlexPowell said:
So I put a hose line down the pipe and a lot of dirt came out - now there is either a compacted blockage or a 90 degree bend. I measured how far down it was with the hose pipe and it was a little over a metre down so it could be either really.

One question left unanswered is what should the expected behaviour be? If I block off the skimmer opening completely - should the water then be drawn up through the main drain? Or do I need the skimmer float valve to enable this? I am not a plumber but am imagining that without something physically connecting the two pipes there would be no reason for water to be drawn up into the skimmer box and the pump would simply fill with air
Click to expand...

You need a float valve for the skimmer to pull water from the main drain in the case of a blocked skimmer. In reality, if the skimmer were truly blocked off, the pump could easily drain the water in the skimmer while pulling on the main drain and then you would lose prime. Float valves work to help to redirect some lost flow from the skimmer to the main drain but their likely less effective against a full skimmer blockage.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
You need a float valve for the skimmer to pull water from the main drain in the case of a blocked skimmer. In reality, if the skimmer were truly blocked off, the pump could easily drain the water in the skimmer while pulling on the main drain and then you would lose prime. Float valves work to help to redirect some lost flow from the skimmer to the main drain but their likely less effective against a full skimmer blockage.
Click to expand...
Is it a bad idea to test functionality of the main drain by bypassing the skimmer completely? (u-bend in skimmer box connecting the two pipes)
 

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