Help with understanding valves functions

[micloud]

Hi all,

Spring time and loads of pollen on the surface of my water. Even with my pump turned up to cleaning mode/high speed, the skimmer just doesn't get the tiny bits of pollen off the surface. I read in the forums that a possible solution would be to adjust the valves so that my skimmer is doing more of the work than the floor drains. But I'm not sure which valve does that. Hoping that someone can help shed some light with the attached photos. Let me know if you need a better angle.

Thanks!
Matt

 

[PoolStored]

1 and 2 control in suction side of your pump. The three pipes are not labeled.
In the current configuration, it is pulling from the middle line.
Turn 1 180 degrees and it will pull from the left line.
Turn 2 180 degrees and it will pull from the right line.
Hope that helps.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Matt,

It appears to me that you have a spa...

The input to your pump has 3 lines... One of those three lines has to be for your spa drain...

That leaves you with 2 unknown lines.. In your pic two of three pipes are shut off.. the only pipe that is open, is the middle one and it appears to be marked 'pool'

I am going to assume the pipe on the left is for your spa drain, the middle pipe is for your pool 'skimmer' and the pipe on the right is for a suction port on the side wall of your pool..

I am guessing that your main drain is plumbed into the bottom of your skimmer..

I have no clue if I am 100% correct or not, but here is what I see..

The only marking I can see is "pool".. I would expect to see "Skimmer" or "Main Drain" and not "pool"..

I also assume you only have one skimmer.. Go look under the skimmer basket and tell me if you see two open holes... If so, most the time this means the hole closest to the water is plumbed down to the Main Drain.

Let us know what you find..

Do you have a capped off port in the side wall of your pool?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[micloud]

Thanks for the responses.

I have one skimmer. In the bottom of the skimmer there are two open holes (only one of those holes has any suction)

I do have a capped off port on the side of the pool wall which I believe is for one of those manual "robot" vac things (I've never used this).

I forgot to mention that when we had the pool built we had them plumb in lines for solar heaters, but they are not in use. I always just assumed that the plumbing for this are the two grey pipes that are just above the concrete with caps on them.

To operate the spa, I turn the black valves (#2 and #3) which I know one is so the pump only sends water to the spa returns, but I'm not actually sure what the other valve does? Maybe for the floor drains in the spa?

I looked a little more closely and I can see that the pool company wrote "cleaner" on the top of the pipe that connects to valve #1 (would that be for the capped off port inside the pool?).

 

[Jimrahbe]

Matt,

Long story short, you have been running without a main drain forever...

The only way your main drain will work, is if there is a floating diverter valve under your skimmer basket.. I assume it is not there. They look like a little space ship and are practically useless

I have never been able to get them to work, so I would not even try. If you do have a space ship, I'd just remove it..

Please check your skimmer and see if you have a 'required' weir door.. They are installed between the mouth of the skimmer and the skimmer basket.. This door floats up and down with the water level.. Their purpose in life is to make your skimmer... well, skim.

If not sure, take a pic from the skimmer looking out into the pool.

Looks like I had the Cleaner pipe and spa drain pipe backwards.. Still, a pretty good guess..

Yes, the cleaner pipe at the equipment pad should be connected to the capped off pipe in the side wall of your pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[micloud]

re: main drain, copy that! Yes I have a diverter thing, I removed it long ago thinking it might hinder the sucking power.

re: weir door, there is none, I can see the holes where its supposed to mount. Would that help make a difference with the pollen? I'm guessing they are universal and I can purchase one and pop it in there.

re: cleaner line... off topic, but if I ever want to use that with a manual vac hose, all I need to do it is plug in the vac, and turn that valve? Do I turn fully or only partly? Occasionally I pull out the manual vac to get something (mostly rely on the robot), but I always found it to be a pain in the butt to use the manual vac with a skimmer plate.

 

[PoolStored]

Would that help make a difference with the pollen?

They are not universal. Skimmer part number will be on the underside of the skimmer cover (the thing you take off to remove basket). Use that part number to lookup the correct weir door.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Matt,

Yes, a weir door is what makes the skimmer, skim the surface of the water... It should help a lot with your problem..

The weir has either broken or has been removed on purpose by an idiot pool builder.

If removed on purpose, then you can get an OEM replacement, and install it.. If the tabs that hold the door in place are broken, then the OEM one will not work.. They make universal weir doors that are held in place by spring-loaded pins.. They seem to work pretty well.. You have to measure the opening and buy one that fits, the best you can.

I never use a vacuum any more, but when I did, I found that I needed to set the valve so that 'most' of the water came from the vacuum line, and a little water came from the pool... Otherwise, the pump would run dry, as it could not suck enough water through the vac hose.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[micloud]

thanks guys...
Yeah the installer never put the weir door on, its never been in place, I'm willing to bet it got tossed by the builders during clean up (pool was built late 2022). I think I have the original skimmer lid in my garage someplace (current cover is the kind with matching concrete on top).