What size eyeballs

[johnhh]

I bought a home with a small pool and it has 6 return eyeballs but they are slit type and were directed various directions so the water did not circulate well back to the single skimmer. I want to buy 6 new ones but plan to get the actual round opening eyeballs. The openings come in various sizes from 3/4" down to 1/2", 3/8" and perhaps smaller. I used to have a pool with only two 3/4" eyeball returns. So I wonder if with 6 returns I should use a smaller opening and if so what size anyone out there would recommend.

 

[mas985]

I bought a home with a small pool and it has 6 return eyeballs but they are slit type and were directed various directions so the water did not circulate well back to the single skimmer.

Why not just redirect them so they do circulate properly?

The trade off with eyeball size is that the smaller the size, the faster the exit velocity of the water but also the higher the head loss. With a single speed pump, this is not all bad because higher head loss may mean lower flow rates but it also means lower energy use. However, I probably would not recommend anything smaller than 3/4". I have one 90 slit eyeball that I use to force return water into the deep end. The rest of mine are 3/4".

 

[johnhh]

Well they are all so old they are locked up tight and I can't loosen the outside ring so I intend to replace all six so I can get whatever size seems best. See the thread on how to remove eyeballs for my saga on getting them out. 5 came out (but the knurled ring did not move. On the last one the knurled ring crumbled. I ended up with an inside pipe wrench (tub drain remover) to get that last seat out. But will now start with all new. Thought all 3/4" would not move the water fast enough to get it around the pool back to the single skimmer. I have three returns on either side of the skimmer. Think will aim three on the left (deeper end) toward the round end to create clockwise rotation (back to the skimmer). The shallow end is partly square so thought I would aim those three down and to the left at the main drain thus continuing the clockwise rotation but not disturbing surface debrie hopefully on its way to the skimmer.
Wondered if 1/2 eyeballs would work better than 3/4.

 

[mas985]

You shouldn't need 1/2". 3/4" should give plenty of force to move the water. The only reason I went from 1" to 3/4" is that I wanted a bit more force on low speed of my two speed pump which works great.