Hayward skimmer and weir door with diffuser - and a mix of "is it working correctly?"

[kristicason]

Hi all. Ok. So, we have been in this house now nearly 2 years. First thing we did was replace the filter, pump, add a Polaris booster pump and sweep. I am currently working on improving the skimmer function. Today I redirected the output jets and seem to have pretty good swirl going now.. will fine tune as I go. However, the pull at the skimmer seems less than optimum, as small debris a couple of inches in front of the alcove passes by. One of the things that this pool has, that our previous did not, is a diffuser in the skimmer. What I realized early is that unless the pool was high up the coving tile full, the skimmer would suck air.. so we have left it in place. The other issue is that the weir door seems to stay at half mast... it takes a significant amount of muscle to flatten it so that flow into the skimmer is not impeded and returns to the firm half mast on it's own. What I do not experience is the loose, floating type weir door that I had on my previous pool. I am not sure if it is intentional that it is permanently at half mast or a dysfunction. With that said, and in an attempt to nail down the culprit rather than the symptom... any suggestions on where to start? Weir or diffuser? And how would I know if the diffuser is truly required or just a measure to deal with perhaps a malfunctioning weir door?

Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Kristi,

I have no idea what a weir "diffuser" is...

How about some pics???

The Weir door should not be laying down flat.. the main job of the weir is to make it appear that the water in the skimmer is lower than the water in the pool.. Water being water, it will want to run down hill.. This causes the surface water in the pool to "fall" into the skimmer, taking debris with it.. This is where the name skimmer comes from, you are skimming the surface of the pool. If the weir door is missing, or all the way down, the water will be pulled from the bottom of the skimmer and there will be little surface action and the skimmer will not skim well at all.

You need to have patience.. Skimmers do not reach out into the pool and grab stuff.. Just give it a chance and eventually all the debris will fall into the skimmers. I only run my pump at 1200 RPM and nothing stays on the surface of my pool for more than an hour.. I know for a fact that nothing will go into my skimmers while I'm looking.. only after I go into the house for a few minutes will it jump into a skimmer on its own...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[kristicason]

Kristi,

I have no idea what a weir "diffuser" is...

How about some pics???

The Weir door should not be laying down flat.. the main job of the weir is to make it appear that the water in the skimmer is lower than the water in the pool.. Water being water, it will want to run down hill.. This causes the surface water in the pool to "fall" into the skimmer, taking debris with it.. This is where the name skimmer comes from, you are skimming the surface of the pool. If the weir door is missing, or all the way down, the water will be pulled from the bottom of the skimmer and there will be little surface action and the skimmer will not skim well at all.

You need to have patience.. Skimmers do not reach out into the pool and grab stuff.. Just give it a chance and eventually all the debris will fall into the skimmers. I only run my pump at 1200 RPM and nothing stays on the surface of my pool for more than an hour.. I know for a fact that nothing will go into my skimmers while I'm looking.. only after I go into the house for a few minutes will it jump into a skimmer on its own...

Thanks,

Jim R.

HI Jim and Thanks! So it sounds like my skimmer is a secret agent... hmmm. The changes I made to the eyeball outlets have definitely helped. Now to see about lowering the RPM's and see how it goes. I will try and get pics tomorrow... had storms through the last 24-36 hours. Quickly tho... I guess what is perplexing to me is that this door is stuck in one position. It doesn't lay down unless I push it down, and actually takes some effort. Our previous pool, the door was mostly up but would bounce down with surges of water, so in effect flowed with the pool. This one doesn't move as the surge of the water has no effect on it. Hoping this makes sense?

 

[kristicason]

HI Jim and Thanks! So it sounds like my skimmer is a secret agent... hmmm. The changes I made to the eyeball outlets have definitely helped. Now to see about lowering the RPM's and see how it goes. I will try and get pics tomorrow... had storms through the last 24-36 hours. Quickly tho... I guess what is perplexing to me is that this door is stuck in one position. It doesn't lay down unless I push it down, and actually takes some effort. Our previous pool, the door was mostly up but would bounce down with surges of water, so in effect flowed with the pool. This one doesn't move as the surge of the water has no effect on it. Hoping this makes sense?

Also, it is not a weir diffuser. It is a skimmer diverter. (spellcheck!) A disc that sits in the bottom of the skimmer that slows the intake of water. It also has a lever that allows you to block all pull from the skimmer so that the pump is pulling only from the main drain in the pool. I hope that helps!

 

[revitup]

Sounds like the weir door is malfunctioning. It should be free to pivot at the front, pool side, and the back, inside skimmer edge, should be bouyant and float with the water level. Position the diverter so all suction is from the skimmer, blocking the main drain. Sounds like the binding weir door may be blocking water flow into the skimmer causing it to suck air under some water level conditions.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Kristi,

Does it look like this?...

Jim R.