Hi everyone. Joe from San Diego. I’ve been studying on how my pool equipment works (just bought house with a pool) and it’s a kidney shaped pool with 2 skimmers.
So based on what I read I’m assuming 1 skimmer has the two ports connecting to the main drain and the 2nd skimmer probably just sucks. Where I’m getting lost is the valves.
The suction line from the pump goes to a splitter which connects three things:
1) vacuum line - this has its own valve to shut it completely off
2) a second split with the following labels:
a) Skimmer 1 / Main drain
b) Skimmer 2
There is also a valve, but it’s locked between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, meaning you can’t completely put it towards either side.
3) an electrically operated valve that goes to an unlabeled pipe. This has something to do with spa because it only activates when I turn on the spa - I’m 90% sure it’s isolating the suction and directing only at spa
I have no idea which skimmer is 1 versus 2 but am assuming the farther away one is 2. The home has lots of problems as it was built on the cheap.
Neither skimmer ever seems to have any flow of water towards them. Based on all the videos and things I’ve read, my understanding is at the valves I should be able to chose between main drain and skimmmer. I’ve never read about a combined pipe skimmer/main drain with no option to select one or the other.
I’ve read in detail how to attempt to clear obstructions but I can’t do this because I can’t figure out how to get suction to the skimmers at all.
Would really appreciate any help
Edit: I should add the suction works fine, ie vacuum operates normally as does filter and heater
So based on what I read I’m assuming 1 skimmer has the two ports connecting to the main drain and the 2nd skimmer probably just sucks. Where I’m getting lost is the valves.
The suction line from the pump goes to a splitter which connects three things:
1) vacuum line - this has its own valve to shut it completely off
2) a second split with the following labels:
a) Skimmer 1 / Main drain
b) Skimmer 2
There is also a valve, but it’s locked between 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock, meaning you can’t completely put it towards either side.
3) an electrically operated valve that goes to an unlabeled pipe. This has something to do with spa because it only activates when I turn on the spa - I’m 90% sure it’s isolating the suction and directing only at spa
I have no idea which skimmer is 1 versus 2 but am assuming the farther away one is 2. The home has lots of problems as it was built on the cheap.
Neither skimmer ever seems to have any flow of water towards them. Based on all the videos and things I’ve read, my understanding is at the valves I should be able to chose between main drain and skimmmer. I’ve never read about a combined pipe skimmer/main drain with no option to select one or the other.
I’ve read in detail how to attempt to clear obstructions but I can’t do this because I can’t figure out how to get suction to the skimmers at all.
Would really appreciate any help
Edit: I should add the suction works fine, ie vacuum operates normally as does filter and heater
Last edited: