hey guys, i was wondering what most people do as far as the percentage of flow of suction from skimmer and main drain? i have one skimmer and one drain, w/ a jandy diverter valve connecting both, i can only close one at any givin time, but cannot close both. anyway, what should i do? leave both wide open 50/50? or 75/25 or 25/75 or 100% skimmer. i hope this makes sense, as it is hard to explain!! thanks
skimmer and drain 50/50?
- Thread starter erock14
- Start date
Hmmm...we have approximately the same size pool but a different plumbing arrangement. Both my main drain(s) and my skimmer have separate valves. I run with both in the wide open position at all times unless I'm doing one of the following things. Brushing the pool down or vacuuming. When I'm brushing the pool down I close the skimmer valve down about 2/3 of the way so that the main drains are pulling harder. Vice versa when I'm vacuuming so that the skimmer is pulling harder giving me more flow at the vacuum head. I never shut either of them all the way however. Hope that helps.
If you don't have a solar cover, you want the skimmer pulling enough to actually skim everything . My feeling is that if the pool is 6' or deeper then it's useful to have the main drain pulling some as well. So, the correct balance would be "some/enough". 
Totally helpful, I know... so I'd start with 50/50 and see what the skimmer action is like.
If you have a solar cover, skimmer action is irrelevant but I still think both should be open at least somewhat.
(There is an argument that you get adequate circulation without a main drain, but it's based on enough assumptions that I think it can't be generalized to all pools.)
FinsUp makes good points about brushing and vaccuuming.
--paulr
Totally helpful, I know... so I'd start with 50/50 and see what the skimmer action is like.If you have a solar cover, skimmer action is irrelevant but I still think both should be open at least somewhat.
(There is an argument that you get adequate circulation without a main drain, but it's based on enough assumptions that I think it can't be generalized to all pools.)
FinsUp makes good points about brushing and vaccuuming.
--paulr
no i dont have a solar cover, and the depth goes to 8'. i bought this home at the end of last summer, and nobody gave me a crash course, so ive been learning myself, anyway, when i did move in, the main drain was off, and i assumed that was the way it was supposed to be, i thought that the drain was probably only for draining the pool, until i came here and started reading, and then i just wanted to be sure what everyone else was doing, but i tottaly get it now. thanks