skimmer not getting suction

[Ramsey89]

Hi everyone,

I just slammed my pool for the first time and the chlorine is finally maintaining the way it should! But, now, I am noticing that the skimmer is getting hardly any suction. It used to spiral with a lot of suction in the pool skimmer basket, but now it is so slight it hardly is working at all. The pool jets are still pumping out water into the pool just fine, though.

Any thoughts on what the problem is here / how to fix it? Is this something I should call the pool company to handle or can I fix it easily on my own?

Thanks!

Katie

 

[jblizzle]

Did you change any valves? Have you cleaned the filter? What is your filter pressure? What is your clean filter pressure?
Post pictures of your equipment and plumbing and add more useful information to your signature (pump and filter models, etc), please.

 

[Richard320]

Has the filter pressure gone up?

Have you vacuumed recently such that the pump basket is clogged or the impeller inside could have pine needles stuck inside it?

 

[duraleigh]

The "spiral" was never a good thing. What is your current psi when the filter is clean? What was it before ypu performed the SLAM?

 

[Ramsey89]

Sorry for the delay in responding. I will try to post pics soon...my filter psi is 10, which is the same before the SLAM. Why was the spiral a bad thing?

 

[jblizzle]

Because it could result in air being pulled in through the skimmer.

 

[JasonK]

Not to highjack but, after replacing my skimmer line you should see mine "spiral". I had to go get a beer and watch it for a while. Was such an improvement from the "no spiral - barley any water moving". My spiral isn't enough that it would suck air, I don't think. I'll get another beer tonight!

 

[jblizzle]

Not to highjack but, after replacing my skimmer line you should see mine "spiral". I had to go get a beer and watch it for a while. Was such an improvement from the "no spiral - barley any water moving". My spiral isn't enough that it would suck air, I don't think. I'll get another beer tonight!

You could always put a rock in the basket (bigger than the hole in the bottom of the skimmer please) to breakup the vortex if it becomes an issue.