Pump losing prime when putting vacuum hose to skimmer.

[fatboysam]

By pool vaccum, you mean external vaccum rite ? if yes then I don't have it, Whatever equipment i have, It's in my pics posted above.

Sorry for these questions, I am totally new to this area. thanks for ur help

 

[rcy]

It looks from your pics that those two items (Quik Skim and aerator) are after filter. So if you're losing prime in the pump when you open the Quick Skim, there must be a problem with whatever the Quik Skim line leads to.

I don't have a main drain, so I don't know how that all fits into the picture. It looks from the pic like the return line from the filter also leads to 'main drain' and 'cleaning system' but that doesn't make sense to me...

When you open the Quik Skim, do you see anything happening in the pool?

 

[fatboysam]

It looks from your pics that those two items (Quik Skim and aerator) are after filter.

thats correct.

It looks from the pic like the return line from the filter also leads to 'main drain' and 'cleaning system' but that doesn't make sense to me...

That's not correct, from the pic it looks like, but in actual return line from filter is only going to clean system, and not to main drain. The "Cleaning system" might be mislabeled, because this thing just rotated the cleaning outlets in the surface of pool.

When you open the Quick Skim, do you see anything happening in the pool?

Will check.. thanks

 

[fatboysam]

OK Everyone, I am still facing the same issue. Today evening, I cleaned all the O-rings and lubricated them. But still Pump is sucking a lot of air, I have no idea from where, but if I turn off the "Quick skimmer" valve then pump is sucking water.

I am attching a picture of my valve setting, please confirm if that's correct ?

I am attaching some pictures of my skimmer basket. I don't know if that helps or not

 

[Bama Rambler]

Did you figure out what the "quik skim" did? I found it! It's made by A&A Mfg. It forces water into the skimmer from the discharge of the pump through a venturi. What that does is cause the skimmer to draw water in faster and therefore in theory, catch more debris. What is happening on your system, when you have the quikskim on, you're forcing more air into the system and causing the pump to lose prime.

How far up in the skimmer is the water level? It looks really low in the picture.

Here's a link to the manual. It's also called an EcoSkim.

 

[araczynski]

nice find, i tried googling last night, but made the mistake of spelling 'quik' properly, and not getting anything useful

 

[mynewpool]

Rcy,

Sorry I did not mean to offend you. I was only posting what works for me. We all have ideas of what works for you and the more ideas the better. There is never one right way to do things. My hose is about 5 feet away from my skimmer and a return jet is not close.

 

[fatboysam]

Did you figure out what the "quik skim" did? I found it! It's made by A&A Mfg. It forces water into the skimmer from the discharge of the pump through a venturi. What that does is cause the skimmer to draw water in faster and therefore in theory, catch more debris. What is happening on your system, when you have the quikskim on, you're forcing more air into the system and causing the pump to lose prime.

How far up in the skimmer is the water level? It looks really low in the picture.

Here's a link to the manual. It's also called an EcoSkim.

You are awesome, The water level in picture is when pump was ON but quick skim was OFF, so I don't know what will be the water level when quick skim is ON, What could be causing this Air suction related to Quick skim line ?

 

[Bama Rambler]

I'm thinking that if the water level in the skimmer is low to begin with, and you turn the quik skim on, it sucks the water level down to where the pump sucks in air and that creates a vicious cycle. Once you turn the quik skim off, the water level raises enough to stop the pump from sucking air.

I'd start by raising the water in the pool up to about 3/4ths the way up the skimmer face.

 

[fatboysam]

I'd start by raising the water in the pool up to about 3/4ths the way up the skimmer face.

That's a great idea, now a really stupid question, How to raise water level in the pool ? I mean how do i add more water to the pool ? My understanding was it is automatic... thanks for bearing with me.

 

[rcy]

Rcy,

Sorry I did not mean to offend you. I was only posting what works for me. We all have ideas of what works for you and the more ideas the better. There is never one right way to do things. My hose is about 5 feet away from my skimmer and a return jet is not close.

Hmm...I wasn't offended at all...really. My turn to apologize if my post made you think I was offended by your post.

As you said, we all have our own methods.

 

[rcy]

I agree that if your water level is too low in the skimmer, then the added suction created by the Quik Skim may start drawing in air instead of water. Easy way for you to check is (next time pump is primed and there is no air in the system) just turn on the Quik Skim and run to the skimmer, open the lid and see if the water has dropped too far.

 

[Bama Rambler]

If you have an auto level then it appears to be set too low. You can just use a hose to add water to the pool.

 

[fatboysam]

If you have an auto level then it appears to be set too low. You can just use a hose to add water to the pool.

will do it today evening, thanks

 

[fatboysam]

I agree that if your water level is too low in the skimmer, then the added suction created by the Quik Skim may start drawing in air instead of water. Easy way for you to check is (next time pump is primed and there is no air in the system) just turn on the Quik Skim and run to the skimmer, open the lid and see if the water has dropped too far.

You are 100% correct, this is exactly what's happening, I turned ON the quick skim and checked the skimmer, water level went down rapidly and pump started sucking Air.... Now I added water to the pool with a garden hose, but still I see water level dropping so low, I don't know how much water to add, The water is still running for last 30-40 mins....

I wonder where is this water going, when i turn on the quick skim ?

Couple of more questions:

1. The quick skim valve should always be in ON position ?

2. From my pictures posted in my previous post, Is the valve in the correct setting ?


Thanks a lot guys, you are so helpful

 

[Bama Rambler]

If you look below the skimmer in the pool there should be a pipe flush with the wall. That's where the water is going. When you turn on the 'quik skim' it forces water through the venturi which forces water through the pipe back to the pool, which draws water into the skimmer faster. Since your water level is so low it forces the water out the pipe faster than the skimmer can take it in causing it to empty and the pump to suck air.

You need the water about 3/4ths up the face of the skimmer.

1. Not really. The quik skim is a feature that makes the skimmer skim faster. It's actually designed not to need a suction from the pump in order to work. If your pool skims fine with just the pump on then you don't need the quik skim at all.

2. Yes and no. If you're talking about the valve in front of the pump, it's set so the pump is drawing water from both the main drain and the skimmer. If that's what you want, then yes, it's set correctly. If you want more main drain then you rotate it so that the 'off' position is more toward the skimmer and if you want more skimmer then you rotate it the other way. To shut it off completely you rotate the handle so 'off' faces the pump.

 

[fatboysam]

You need the water about 3/4ths up the face of the skimmer.

I will try to fill to max.

2. Yes and no. If you're talking about the valve in front of the pump, it's set so the pump is drawing water from both the main drain and the skimmer. If that's what you want, then yes, it's set correctly. If you want more main drain then you rotate it so that the 'off' position is more toward the skimmer and if you want more skimmer then you rotate it the other way. To shut it off completely you rotate the handle so 'off' faces the pump.

What should be the ideal position for this like 90% of the time, I do understand that, If i want to clean the surface of pool then I will move to main drain position and if i want clean surface of water then I will rotate towards skimmer position.

Thank you so much

 

[Bama Rambler]

If it's working good where it is just leave it there. You can always open the quik skim valve a little to help the skimming action.
If you wanted to use the quik skim all the time you could set the suction valve to 100% main drain (off position toward skimmer).

 

[fatboysam]

I jut discovered something, The water level in pool was good, the problem was something else. There was one plastic , kind of door/lid, which was shutoff( I don't know how and why), I just opened it and water level in skimmer went up, and everyhting seems normal now, I have tried to show the door/lid in the picture my finger is pointing to that door in ON position, earlier it was standing vertical and blocking 90% of the water going to skimmer... I just touched the door and it opened, like it wanted to

So this problem is solved, thanks to you guys, YOU found the actual problem.

Now coming on to some other issues:

1. I found one more basket/hole just outside the pool, similar to skimmer lid, I opened it and I see somehting like Fluidmaster 400 ...
My guess is this is the autofill valve, please see second pic.

2. I don't see and return port in my pool, I see two ports, which are covered by plastic cover, please see third pic, these are kind of small holes, I tried to put my hand in front of these holes while pump was running, but i don't feel any pressure.

THANK YOU SO MUCH EVRYONE, SPECIALLY Dave

 

[araczynski]

toilet fill valve?? i guess you have a built in log flusher in your pool

but yeah, probably the autofill-do-not-overfill drain.

anyway, looks like you have quite the smorgasbord of features in that setup of yours.