Help diagnosing low suction at skimmer

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M

mledbetter

0
Jun 18, 2013
8
20k gallon in-ground
1-1/2" piping
1 skimmer
2 ports below skimmer basket. 1 to the pump and 1 to the main drain.
No valve to distribute suction between skimmer and main drain
1 valve to distribute return between 1 return port and all the other ports (not sure of the reason for this or the function it serves)
Hayward Super 2 Pump (1hp) w/ a new AO Smith B128 motor (old motor had worn bearings)
Auxiliary pump for cleaner
DE filter recently inspected, cleaned, and recharged


My wife and I recently bought an older house with an older pool. It seems to have been maintained well enough, but I don't believe I'm getting a sufficient amount of suction at the skimmer. Leaves and bugs will float right by the skimmer entry, but not get sucked in. It seemed to have a much stronger flow when we initially moved in to the house, but I admit I didn't do much with the pool other than empty the basket, skim the surface, and run the vacuum during the winter.

The pump is definitely moving water. There are no air bubbles to be seen under the pump lid or out the return lines. When the cleaner pump kicks on, the Polaris moves around properly and picks up debris.

I tried a drain king inserted in to the pump inlet. Nothing came back up the skimmer line and I could definitely feel the cold water from the hose coming up through the port. The impeller is free of debris as I checked it when I swapped the motor (same symptoms before and after motor swap).

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Matt
 
The water is about half way up the skimmer opening.

There isn't a weir door. The pool doesn't even have a way to mount one that I can tell, but I assume there is a generic spring mount option or something. Isn't that just to keep debris from floating back out in to the pool when the pump is turned off?

Thanks,
Matt
 
The weir is for more than just keeping stuff from returning to the pool. It also drastically improves the surface skimming action.

You say that the main drain is connected to the bottom of the skimmer? Is there a diverter in the bottom of the skimmer?
 
I mentioned in my original post that it seemed like there was more suction originally and, the more I think about it, I'm certain that was the case. When we first bought the house, the skimmer basket was completely stuffed with leaves as was the basket in the pump. When I cleared those out, I remember turning the pump on and seeing things on the water surface heading towards the skimmer.
 
I disassembled and cleaned the filter a few weeks ago. I didn't find any tears or damaged areas. I did wash a lot of debris out of the filter. I'm in Austin, TX and we have trees near the pool that drop a brown fuzzy material. I'm not even sure what it is, but during the fall and winter, a lot of it ends up in the pool.

The pressure sits at about 12psi after I backwash and add DE. It's currently slightly above that.
 
I've checked the impeller and it's not clogged and doesn't appear to be damaged in any way.

I believe the pressure readings are consistent.

I should also note that the flow doesn't appear to improve when I move the valve to recirculate. If I understand it correctly, that should take the filter out of the equation.
 

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It does take the filter out of the loop, but on my filter, the head difference between filter and recirc is minimal.

The flapper on the diverter in the skimmer hasn't gotten moved has it? Drawing more from the MD.
 
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