Eyeballs on returns?

[wrems]

My pool was built many years ago, long before I ever owned this house. It has 1 skimmer, 2 returns and one low hole. The one return might technically be called a vacuum port?? New pool owner still learning… That port is the one that has the connection for my Polaris robot. The other return has an eye that can be directed. Both of the returns are on the same side of the pool with the skimmer. So one shoots water straight across the pool because it has no directional eye and the other has the eye facing down at the deep end of the pool ~8’.

A few questions, do both returns need directional eyes? How should they be aimed? It would almost seem that if I had eyeballs on both returns and directed them kind of upwards and the same direction that I may get the whole pool to swirl clockwise and allow the skimmer to pull the crud off the surface more effectively. Is that a strategy worth considering? It's unclear to me the exact purpose the eyes serve other than a convenient way to alter the direction of the water.

One thing I've noticed with the return with the eye is that it creates a vortex on the surface of the water and all sorts of crud gets trapped in the tiny tornado that is formed. So all that stuff just sits and spins rather than working its way around to the skimmer. Is that normal?

 

[pooldv]

Eyeballs have two jobs. Direct water flow and create back pressure to help balance water flow. Yes, the general idea is to aim the eyeballs on one direction or the other. If one direction doesn't work try the other. Also, maybe point one mostly in that direction and the other in the same direction and partly toward the middle so it still generates a circular flow and clears out the stagnant area.

 

[Divin Dave]

sounds like a eyeball might be aimed a tiny bit too high and its creating that vortex.

You have the right idea, its best to create a circular current in the water