My question is safety

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poolsam

poolsam

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Jun 15, 2014
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Bangor, maine
I have a 15 by 48 inch Intex frame pool. I'd like to connect a Hayward SP1091LX Dyna-Skim. Install seems simple enough. My question is safety. Do you guys always turn off your skimmer when kids are in pool so parts / hair don't get sucked in? If so, how do you activate a pool fountain that would run off the same water circuit. Also, it seems that the skimmer is installed near the top of the pool liner. However I typically run my pool almost to the top. Does this mean you have to drain it a "few colored rows on the liner" down?

I have an Intex salt water system / pump connected to Intext in/outs.

last year I ran another pump with sand filter and just hung the extra in/out tubing into the pool. My project this summer is to install the skimmer, cut a new intake valve, and replace all the hosing with 1.5 inch pvc.... Great forum... thanks...
 
Hi there and welcome to TFP... :) Connecting the skimmer is a piece of cake... :) You will want to put ball valves on all intakes and returns including the skimmer, that way you can shut off each individual hose if you need to.... I have a son who is autistic so I have to cover and shut off everything when he's in the pool..... :)

Draining your pool to just below where you want the skimmer means you won't have to cut the butterfly gasket in two...... But if you don't want to drain the pool, you just put a bowl over the area you need to cut (this requires two people)...

I'm not cutting my gasket in half.... :) Hope this helps....
 
poolsam said:
I have a 15 by 48 inch Intex frame pool. I'd like to connect a Hayward SP1091LX Dyna-Skim. Install seems simple enough. My question is safety. Do you guys always turn off your skimmer when kids are in pool so parts / hair don't get sucked in? If so, how do you activate a pool fountain that would run off the same water circuit. Also, it seems that the skimmer is installed near the top of the pool liner. However I typically run my pool almost to the top. Does this mean you have to drain it a "few colored rows on the liner" down?

I have an Intex salt water system / pump connected to Intext in/outs.

last year I ran another pump with sand filter and just hung the extra in/out tubing into the pool. My project this summer is to install the skimmer, cut a new intake valve, and replace all the hosing with 1.5 inch pvc.... Great forum... thanks...
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I left my skimmer on with kids in pool, but I kept the original below water inlet too. with ball valves on on both, and both sucking in water. if one gets plugged, the other takes over. this keeps people from being trapped as the two divide the suction between them. I recommend you keep the original inlet too, as if you get a raft or something sucked up against the skimmer, your pump will lose prime. with 2 inlets, unless both get stopped up, this is a non issue. I dont understand how people get caught in these things anyway, the suction is not so strong that it would keep even a kid from being able to escape it. floor drains I can understand how that could happen, but side inlets and skimmers I dont, especially if there is more than 1, as i said the suction is dispersed between them.


as far as the water fall fountain, how I did mine on my intex was to get a 1.5 inch T fitting and a 1.5 to 3/4 inch reducer. I put T fitting on return piping, put reducer, and ran 3/4 inch pipe from reduce to a 3/4 ball valve (so that fountain can be turned on and off) and then 3/4 inch to my fountain.
 
I think you are over thinking this. Water just kind of flows into the skimmer. It isn't until it gets below the basket that suction increases. The factory inlet is by far more prone to cause an issue with hair.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
 
poobears said:
I've never worried about the skimmer it's not a vortex suction but floor drains freak me out LOL
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floor drains are another story entirely and definately something to worry about:

http://www.nachi.org/forum/f21/child-eviscerated-pool-drain-18604/

^^^ I cant even imagine that....... in fact...as a father of 5, i think its up there at the top of the list with the most disturbing things I have ever heard of..... :-o

I wouldnt lose any sleep over a skimmer or sidewall inlet though.
 
My current steup is a the Intex Salt Water Generator / Pump connected to the standard Intex in/out valves. I only run this at night for salt generation as I worry about kids hair and stuff getting stuck in that inlet which can be strong.

I have a Hayward pump with sand filter than I run more often and use to connect my vacuum. Currently I have flexible tubing drapped (cable tied) over side of pool with the inlet weighted down by a bat weight. This works ok, but looks a little "rough". I have ordered the recommended Hayward skimmer and will install and cut the liner. It also comes with an inlet valve to cut and install as well.

My questions are:

1. How much water can you have with this skimmer. I currently almost always have the water to the very top, but this skimmer likely needs the water level at half way so a few inches down from where I have it now. It that correct.

2. For safety. With my current setup I would only have the skimmer connect to the more powerful hayward pump, so only one suction outlet. It seems that most safety talk focusses on two suctions in case one gets obstructed the other helps avoid major suction.

What would people suggest for my setup with the Intext salt water generator.... Thanks.
 
Bama Rambler said:
There is a thread here somewhere where someone installed the top of the skimmer above the overlap so that they could keep the water level at the top of the squares.
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I don't think you will find one of those if you want the water level to remain at the top of the squares after the skimmer is installed.

If you will look at your liner you will notice two lines just above the squares in the solid color. That is where the part of the liner that wraps over the frame is welded/fused back to itself. I really don't think it's a good idea to cut that. I put mine on where the face plate of the skimmer was over the welded/fused seams....but the screw holes are just below it in the "squares section". This is the water level that I keep mine at.
 

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Bama Rambler said:
Thru Wall Skimmer Install, Above Seam & With Intex Hoses
Here's one of the threads I mentioned above. I think there's another one or two, but this is the first one I found.
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I never said it could not be done....just ill advised. It's just not smart to cut a structural part of the pool. Also the pool starts to curve out at that point. To be honest anything above the top seam the liner is not fused and is really an inner and an outer piece. It's just not worth it to me for 1" of water. Just my .02
 
CeeElGee said:
My skimmer goes above the weld and I keep my water within one "square" of the top.
Click to expand...

Same here. I installed the Hayward skimmer between the stock inlet & outlets as high up as possible. Currently the stock outlet (out of pool) is not in use, just the new skimmer is. Pool stays very clean. May connect the stock outlet to assist with vacuuming... seen on another thread.
 
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