Skimmer questions

[bboehm]

When cleaning the gunk out of my skimmers today, I noticed a couple of my skimmers have cracks in them (in the top round part where the skimmer baskets are). What kinds of problems can I expect because of this? Am I probably losing water through those cracks? Are the skimmers difficult to replace? We have a concrete deck poured around all four skimmers.

Picture below from when we recently had our new liner put in. Will the concrete around the tops of the skimmers have to be cut to replace the skimmers?

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

To see if you are leaking, squeeze a little food coloring near the cracks with the pump off. If the cracks don't suck it in, there is no leak. If it does, the cracks can be sealed with Aqua-Bond or similar products.

Changing the skimmer is the last thing you want to do. The concrete around the top portion is not going to let go of it in the vast majority of cases so it would need to be cut to free it. The water would need lowering and the liner would need to be dropped to get at the screws holding the skimmer to the wall. It's usually a royal PITA to get all the screw holes lined back up.

Scott

 

[bboehm]

Awesome! Thanks for the help. I will give the aqua-bond a go regardless because I know these cracks will get worse during the winter months if I don't repair them beforehand.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Bill, that looks like a great pool! 4 skimmers, wow! I really like the deep end swimout too.

 

[waste]

Just FYI.

I've replaced ~ 1/2 dozen skimmers by tunneling under the deck and removing them - the original 'graduation cap' stayed in place in the deck (and NO! it's NOT fun, but it can be done)

 

[bboehm]

Funny. Everyone always compliments on the number of skimmers. We do get very good water flow and filtration with this this setup.

Good to know about being able to tunnel in underneath the deck. I never really thought about that approach but sounds like it might be better than cutting into the deck if we ever do have to replace. Thanks for the info!