Plug the second hole on the bottom of the skimmer?

[rv4hess]

I'm plumbing separate lines from main drain and skimmer.
Would you recommend that I just plug the second hole on the bottom of the skimmer, or is the equalizer a good idea?
I assume that I will almost always be drawing from both the mains and the skimmer.
My pump elevation will be slightly lower than the skimmer level.

Thanks, John

 

[JasonLion]

The ideal situation is to have a single pipe going from the skimmer to the equipment pad and a single pipe going from the main drain(s) to the equipment pad and no second hole in the skimmer. The key thing to avoid is to not plug a pipe that you don't have any other connection to.

An equalizer line can be helpful if you don't have a main drain and you can't run a separate pipe back to the equipment pad. Some builders plumb the main drain into the skimmer just to save money even though it is a a rather bad idea to do that. If you are in that situation having the main drain come up there is better than not having any connection to the main drain.

 

[waste]

Just another thought for the second hole. Plumb in a reserve skimmer line, plug it at the skimmer and stub up and cap the other end at the pad. If anything ever happens to the main skimmer line, you'll have it's replacement ready to connect to the pump :idea:

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Many skimmers have two different size ports, usually 1.5 and 2 inches.

Scott