In-floor cleaning system

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RIRSZ

RIRSZ

0
Jul 13, 2012
54
Central New Jersey
Pool Size
27000
Surface
Vinyl
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello,

I have a brand new pool, and purchased it with an in-floor cleaning system from Paramount. My problem is with the MDXr3 drain not having any suction.

When the salesman explained the system to me he told me that these drains had so much suction that they had to install two safety mechanisms along with it to keep people from drowning (I was impressed).

Anyway, the pool is now built and I decided to chance my life and get near this man made "black hole" and I have to say that I was suddenly very unimpressed. I didn't feel any suction, I went so far as to put a leaf within 6 inches of the inlet and it just blew away from drain. I grabbed my little leaf and stuffed it directly into the drain, and that did get pulled to the waste canister.

I called my PB and they showed up and promptly blew out the lines between the canister and drain, they didn't find any obstructions. They told me the system was operating normally and that I would have to shut off my skimmers to force more suction from the drain. They piped my system in such a way that I can only shut-off one of the two skimmers at a time, and as you can guess, this made little to no difference to the main.

I've cleaned my cartridge filters and checked for obstructions at the impeller but I'm still getting no suction.

I was hoping someone out there with a similar system could tell me what their experience was with the drain. Maybe I'm expecting more suction than it was designed for?

Thanks,
 
:wave: Welcome to TFP!!!

I am not too familiar with that system. But, I was curious if you have float diverters in your skimmers under the basket. You may be able to add one to the "open" skimmer to block a majority of the suction from it and thus have more from the pop-up drain.
 
Hi Jason,

Thanks for replying. I'm pretty sure I don't have float diverters, I only see the drain when I take my baskets out. I can probably rig something with the vac hose to shut down the skimmer, I'll give that a shot and see if I get any real suction out of the drain.
 
What does the inside of your skimmer look like under the basket? Probably easy to add a diverter.

Or you could test if that helps by just sticky a tennis ball over the skimmer suction line.
 
Is one of the hole plugged? Or is it connected to a hole in the wall below the skimmer or to the floor?

Either way, plug the suction line with a ball and see if the floor works better.
 
yes, one of the holes is plugged.

I tried the tennis ball trick and did get some extra suction at the drain. Not as much as I was thought, but my maybe my expectations are a little too high.

Thanks for the advice...
 
Is the in-floor cleaner not keeping the pool clean? Most in-floors require the popups to push the debris to the drain and the drain captures the debris but it really doesn't pull it in from very far away on it's own.
 
So far the pool is clean, and the floor jets do a great job of moving the debris towards the drain. My problem is that I often see leaves float right past the mouth of the drain. The only way things get sucked up is if they are pushed into the opening of the drain. I have actually placed leaves at the rim and have watched them float away!

I stupidly laid two fingers across the drain of both my skimmers and the suction nearly tore my skin as my fingers were pulled in, I tried the same thing at the debris collector for the drain and I didn't feel nearly as much suction.
 

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Sure, this is a few months old while pool was being installed.

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On the skimmer valve, can you turn it so it shuts off both skimmers? Some valves have stops but you can get around them by unscrewing the valve handle screw and lifting up a little bit. Also, are those all 2" lines?
 
I popped off one of the little black pegs, this allowed me to shut off both skimmers. It did increase suction at the drain, when I laid my hands over the drain I could now feel a little flow, but not so much that you would have to install safety release mechanisms like my PB did.
 
Mark: Sorry I got home late and it was pouring rain, I'll get you those numbers tomorrow....

toofast: I think you maybe right. Even though I'm complaining about the suction, the pool is spotless and I've haven't used a vaccum yet. I guess I'm just a little OCD about the drain at this point....
 
My in-floor cleaner works like yours. I often see debris blow past the main drain. However, my pool is also spotless so I don't worry about it.

Much like you, when I first got the pool, I was picturing something like a shop vac. I thought if anything got near the drain it would get sucked in. It is not so.

I'm on my third year using it and love it. It basically works on the law of averages. The jets keep everything stirred up and eventually debris will hit the drain and get sucked in.

If the pool is clean, I would not worry about it.
 
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