Is it ok to file down pool tile?

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L

lvrpl

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Jun 18, 2015
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Dallas, TX
I've got a skimmer door that occasionally gets stuck in too far forward (in the direction of the pool). It seems that there's some tile on the side of the weir door inlet hanging over a little too far (we just got a new tile a replaster recently). Is it ok to file the tile edge down a bit? And if it is ok to file it, should I be woried about the dust, or will is it ok to assume it will just go into the filter and get cleaned out?

To illustrate, I've attached a picture of the weir door below. It's a bit hard to see, but the edge I would file is in the red box.

Thanks!

Skimmer1.jpg
 
That whole design looks wrong. The skimmer does not line up correctly with the tile. The skimmer is too low. Also, the weir should never be able to make contact with the tile like that.
 
If this were my pool I would have this corrected by the tile installer. The tile should not be interfering with the weir door at all.

You are going to need a grinder or diamond file/stone to remove ceramic material. A standard wood/metal file will not work properly.

Dom
 
JamesW said:
That whole design looks wrong. The skimmer does not line up correctly with the tile. The skimmer is too low. Also, the weir should never be able to make contact with the tile like that.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback everyone. First, I'm not sure I'm following why the design is screwed up (sorry, I'm new to pools - we just bought this house a couple of months ago and it's our first pool, and we had it replastered and retiled upon purchase). What looks wrong with this setup?

I wonder if perhaps that water in the original picture is distorting things. Also note that the pump is currently not on in the picture - when the filter pump is running, the weir door gets pulled down as water flows over the top of the door.

For (relatively) more clarity, I drew a quick sketch of how the skimmer and weir are laid out currently. It's rough, but this is pretty close to scale, at least on the important points. This is also (obviously) what things look like without the filter pump running. What would you say looks wrong with this layout? Also for reference, I figured out that I have a Pentair Bermuda skimmer (I was able to track down the original pool builder from 15 years ago while I was trying to find the OEM weir door a month ago).

Thanks again for the help.

Sideview skimmer.jpg

- - - Updated - - -



Here is a second sketch (top view) to show where the problem is. This is even less to scale and exagerrated a bit (particularly on the tiles), but this should give a sense for how the weir door is catching on the tile. Also, from pointing straight up (perpendicular to the water level), the weir has a range of motion of almost 90 degrees back towards the skimmer (when you push the weir down below the water surface, obviously) and maybe 20 degrees forward toward the pool - that's how it gets caught on the overhanging tile. Hopefully this makes sense. Thanks again for the help.


Topview skimmer.jpg
 
your drawing helped me in that I knew what I was looking.

Your pic is look inside the skimmer from the pool right?

You can clearly see the tile is not done right in the part of your pic in the red square. Look at the other side and how it is quite a bit further over so that it is not a problem.

I would have your tile people back out and see what they want to do to fix it.

If they do not come out then I would do as the other say-----------work on the cheapest fix----------the door. Use care that you do not put a hole in it so that water can get inside the door. That is a great place to get algae.

Kim
 
FYI, the weir should not be able to move forward towards the pool past vertical. Usually there is a tab on the top of the skimmer to prevent the weir from moving as far as where you are having an issue.

You could just epoxy a tab or something to the top of the skimmer and then the tile would not longer be causing a problem.
 

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Alternatively if you cannot get the tile guys to give you a remedy, the best method to shave off the edge of the tile would be to use a 4" angle grinder with a diamond disc. That would cut the edge of the tile easily. However you would have to lower the water height and it makes a volumnous dust cloud and in that tight space would be spraying lots of tile dust back into your face.
 
jblizzle said:
FYI, the weir should not be able to move forward towards the pool past vertical. Usually there is a tab on the top of the skimmer to prevent the weir from moving as far as where you are having an issue.

You could just epoxy a tab or something to the top of the skimmer and then the tile would not longer be causing a problem.
Click to expand...
was thinking the same thing when I saw this. the tile shouldn't matter, the weir only is supposed to go inward (toward the skimmer) and when no flow it should be upright. you need to do as jbizzle says and just install the tab. the tile should have 0% impact
 
Thanks again for all the help everyone. So I'll have the builder come back and take a look, and he should obviously fix that tile. However, it sounds like epoxying a tab onto the ceiling of the pass-through to keep the weir from rotating forward might be a more simple and equally effective solution.

Is there a particular type of epoxy that would be good for this sort of job? And any suggestions for the tab? I'm sure I can find a piece of plastic but just thought I'd ask in case anyone has a good idea off the top of their head.

Thanks again.
 
I would use a two part epoxy to install a new tab. the weir should never go forward, that's not how they are designed to work. it should vertical when the pump is off, and titled back toward the skimmer basket when your pump is running.
 
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