Need help fine tuning the fine art of vacuuming

[Chappy]

I've kind of been running around in circles the past few days trying to solve my problem. Seems like every day I come up with a new solution, but wanted to get some opinions on this.

The problem is keeping a consistent suction while vacuuming. Currently I only get about 3-5 minutes before I lose the prime and start sucking in air. I now believe this is due to the rather funky piece of equipment I was sold at the pool store last year to attach my kreepy to our skimmer vac plate. It's a semi-hard rubber cone attached to this other piece which then attaches to the kreepy's hose. After a few minutes you can hear it slurp-slurp and suck in air and then either kreepy goes still or I get no suction when vacuuming manually.

Obviously this isn't the proper way to keep an air-tight fit. So I was thinking that I needed some sort of new vac plate that my kreepy hose could connect to. (I'm currently using the kreepy hose to manually vacuum as well).

Now I'm thinking that all I need for regular vacuming is a proper 1 1/2 inch vacuum hose... which should seal in the current plate I have, correct? I'm guessing I can splice a piece of the kreepy hose to one end of the standard vacuum hose when I want to run kreepy. When it's got full suction, it works pretty Dang good in our small pool.

Hope all of this isn't too convoluted. The biggest problem I'm having is keeping my small pool's bottom clean and free from dirt... if I could just maintain a constant suction long enough to vacuum it's entirety, my life would be improved 100%!! That's not too much to ask, is it?

See pics below.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[spishex]

I'd recommend keeping separate hoses for the manual and auto vacs. Neither is very suitable for the other's job.

Can you post a picture or better yet the part number of your skimmer basket?

 

[Chappy]

Here are pics of the skimmer plate and the current skimmer basket we're using. The skimmer plate has a p/n of 51-252-124. I don't see a p/n for the skimmer basket. It's a SkimPro Power Vented Skimmer Basket and it has a threaded hole at the bottom.

 

[launboy]

Seems like you could just get one of these and it would solve all of your problems. It just sits on top of your skimmer basket and the suction keeps it there. Is there any reason you couldn't just use something simple like this?

Skimmer Plate

HTH,
Adam

 

[spishex]

I think I'm starting to understand what you're saying now. You use that plate, oriented as you have it pictured, over the skimmer basket. Then you use the APC adapter to fit into the hole in the middle of the plate?

That's definitely a bad setup. If you look at the plate that Adam posted, you put that on top and then connect directly to it with no adapter necessary.

 

[JohnT]

I suspect your problem is that your pump can't get enough water through the vacuum hose, and you are going to need a plate that has the extra hole in it to allow sufficient flow to the pump. As soon as the pump loses prime, your skimmer plate will pop loose and you'll start hearing slurping noises from the skimmer. If you weren't getting an airtight seal, you'd never be able to start vacuuming.

 

[Chappy]

If I try a plate like Adam posted, it might work and John's concern might not come into play because I would still be getting water flow to the pump from the main drain. The only way to stop the flow from the main drain is to use the current plate I have, which has a setting to cover the hole from the main drain which is located just underneath the skimmer opening. My pool only has one skimmer.

I'm guessing that these plates are universal in size, and even though the one Adam posted doesn't have little notches in it to lock it into place in my skimmer like my current plate, the suction should keep it in place?

Sounds like simply trying a plate like this would at least be a cheap and easy next step to see if I get better results, using the current kreepy hose that I already have.

Also, I replaced my pump's motor last summer.