Low skimmer suction

[jaspers95]

My in ground pool has 3 skimmers (shallow end, middle, deep end) with the deep end skimmer closest to the pump. It doesn't have a main drain, so those are the only lines returning back to pump. There is a ball valve for each of the skimmer lines returning into the pump. Currently only the shallow end skimmer is actually skimming the pool - meaning leaves and debris actually go into the skimmer. For the other two skimmers the leaves and debris just stay in the pool and don't go into those skimmers. For these two skimmers I can feel some suction by the hole at the bottom of the skimmer but again the leaves and debris in front of the skimmer don't get pulled in. I tried different things with the skimmer ball valves to see if that could help determine what's going on:

All valves open:
- shallow skimmer high suction and pulls debris in
- middle skimmer very low suction and not pulling debris in
- deep skimmer very low suction and not pulling debris in
- filter pressure solid at 19psi

Only Shallow skimmer valve open:
- high suction and pulls debris in
- filter pressure solid at 19psi

Only Middle skimmer valve open:
- low suction not puling debris in
- filter pressure below 10 psi and pump makes a whiny sound off and on

Only Deep skimmer valve open:
- some suction and pulls some debris in
- filter pressure solid at 19 psi

Anyone have any ideas/suggestions on what's going on and how to fix it?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Jasper,

The first thing I would do is get a "Drain King" and flush the lines from the pump back into the skimmers, one at a time.

It sounds to me like you have something, like leaves, plugging the lines.

You may have to run this back and forth, between the pump end and the skimmer end.. to get it to clear..

Do you have solid PVC lines or something else?

Drain king link.. https://www.googleadservices.com/pa...hUKEwir9p2v9uHjAhUERKwKHRisAhcQ9aACCDo&adurl=

They come in different sizes, so make sure you get one for your pipe size.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[jaspers95]

The lines are all solid PVC. I'll get the drain king and give it a try.

 

[jaspers95]

I did the drain king thing for the two low suction skimmers. I put it in both the skimmers side and the pump side - disconnecting skimmer to pump valve union so I could get hose into each skimmer. when hose in the skimmer side I saw the same amount of water going into the pump from each of the two skimmers. After turning pump back on I saw that middle skimmer was now pulling stuff in from pool but the deep end skimmer still wasn't. Anything else I could try?

 

[Oly]

What is the hp of your pump?
Be sure your weir doors are doing the right things.
Is the deep skimmer the furthest from the pump?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Did you run the drain king on the deep end skimmer???

Jim R.

 

[jaspers95]

Pump HP is 1.5.

The deep skimmer is the closest to the pump.

Yes the drain King was run on the deep skimmer.

Also backwashed after doing the drain King test. When I backwash I usually put DE in the deep end skimmer since it's closest. The DE does eventually get sucked in but not as quick as it is too.