Plumbing help

Saints

Member
Jun 11, 2023
7
Mandeville, La
We had our pool installed in August of this year. One of the skimmers pulls harder than the other and looking at the plumbing it doesn’t look like I can have both of them fully open at the same time, is this normal?
 

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You should be able to position the handle so that it is centered allowing each skimmer pipe to receive the same amount of water. See the eample below.

full
 
Take it apart and rotate it 180 degrees ?
That is one option. Sometimes just loosening the center bolt is enough to get the handle to lift and turn over. Some people go as far as cutting those stops off if they are familiar and comfortable with the handle settings.
 
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S,

The near skimmer will always have more suction than the far skimmer.. When pools are plumbed by someone that has a clue, then there is a 2-way Jandy valve in each skimmer line. This allows you to independently adjust each skimmer.

When you have a builder that is more interested in cost than operation, you end up with one 3-way Jandy valve to adjust both skimmers.

The best you can do is to adjust your 3 way valve to close off a little of the suction to the near skimmer, which will increase the suction to the far skimmer.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
You should be able to position the handle so that it is centered allowing each skimmer pipe to receive the same amount of water. See the eample below.

full
Yeah this is the way I would expect it to be, but the stops prevent me from doing it this way. I did unscrew just the handle and couldn’t get it to do a 180, maybe some pliers. I’ll mess with it again and see if I can do it without unscrewing the whole top and if not I’ll do that. Thanks
 
S,

The near skimmer will always have more suction than the far skimmer.. When pools are plumbed by someone that has a clue, then there is a 2-way Jandy valve in each skimmer line. This allows you to independently adjust each skimmer.

When you have a builder that is more interested in cost than operation, you end up with one 3-way Jandy valve to adjust both skimmers.

The best you can do is to adjust your 3 way valve to close off a little of the suction to the near skimmer, which will increase the suction to the far skimmer.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Alright that was easy, I just unscrewed the top to turn it above the stop. I was messing with it this morning before work and was short on time. What is weird though is that my far skimmer pulls way better than the near skimmer. Either way I have both skimmers pulling way better than before running at 1200rpms for 17hrs, 2750rpms for 3hrs, 3200rpms for 1hr and off for 3hrs. I’m not really sure why I settled on this schedule, but that’s what I got.

one more question. I’m assuming this pipe going into the ground on the left is the floor drain and shutting off completely won’t mess anything up? It was wide open and I turned to to 10% which is how I got both skimmers to start pulling equally and much better.
 

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It was wide open and I turned to to 10% which is how I got both skimmers to start pulling equally and much better.
That's fine. As long as your pump is pulling water from the skimmer lines to stay full in the pump pot all is well. :goodjob:
 
S,

Why do you shut the pump off at all???

My (unproven) theory is that it is better for a VS pump to run 24/7 than it is for the pump to have to start and stop each day.

I do think it odd that your near skimmer has less suction... :scratch:

Not sure how that would happen unless the near skimmer line is clogged or ???? It obviously has to do with how things are plumbed between the equipment pad and the skimmers... In most cases the far skimmer is much further away from the equipment pad, so there is a much longer pipe to get there. The longer the pipe the more it restricts the water flow.

We normally recommend running your main drain either off, or just open about 10%.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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S,

Why do you shut the pump off at all???

My (unproven) theory is that it is better for a VS pump to run 24/7 than it is for the pump to have to start and stop each day.


Thanks,

Jim R.
Good question Jim. I’m not really sure as I’ve only had the pool for 3 months and for the first month ran it 24/7 at 2750rpms. I guess when I settled on that schedule I figured it would be a good idea for the pump to be off to prevent wear for a few hours.

I have now changed it to run:
3:00am-11:00pm @ 1200rpms
11:00pm-2:00am @ 2750rpms
2:00am-3:00am @ 3000rpms

If there is a more optimal schedule I’m all ears. Although now that I’ve fixed the skimmers and they are pulling much better I could probably just run 24/7 @ 1200rpms and be fine.
 
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Although now that I’ve fixed the skimmers and they are pulling much better I could probably just run 24/7 @ 1200rpms and be fine.
That's about where i run. It's so cheap at 110W that I splurge all the way up to 1500 rpms / 220W for the looks of the water rippling more.
 
I could probably just run 24/7 @ 1200rpms and be fine.
S,

I run 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM... I used to ramp up to different speeds in a effort to improve skimming and found it had very little effect. I have two skimmers and they work just fine at 1200 RPM.

Tell me why you run at 2750 and 3000 RPM.. What is the goal? I believe that you should run the pump for a reason..

To make chlorine and skim, I run at 1200 RPM
When my wife and I use the pool floats, we like them to move a little, so I run at 2500 RPM.
When I want my waterfall wall on, the pump runs at 2800 RPM..

I guess my point is, you should run the pump for a specific reason, and not just to have different speeds. Each speed should have a corresponding goal.


Thanks,

Jim R.
 
S,

I run 24/7, mostly at 1200 RPM... I used to ramp up to different speeds in a effort to improve skimming and found it had very little effect. I have two skimmers and they work just fine at 1200 RPM.

Tell me why you run at 2750 and 3000 RPM.. What is the goal? I believe that you should run the pump for a reason..

To make chlorine and skim, I run at 1200 RPM
When my wife and I use the pool floats, we like them to move a little, so I run at 2500 RPM.
When I want my waterfall wall on, the pump runs at 2800 RPM..

I guess my point is, you should run the pump for a specific reason, and not just to have different speeds. Each speed should have a corresponding goal.


Thanks,

Jim R.
My thinking was to ramp things up for a few hours to run more water through the filter for a cleaner pool, which like you said, probably isn’t necessary. I do have some trees that constantly drop leaves, but it isn’t too bad. I do also have a robot skimmer so probably more reason to not ramp things up. I’ll try what I have for a few days and then try just 1200 for a few days to see if I notice a difference.
 
S,

Just to make sure we are on the same page..

There is a myth that you have to 'Turnover' your pool water X times a day. That is just not true.. Chemicals keep your pool clear and sanitized, not the number of times water passes through the filter.

I like your plan.. the key is.. Whatever works best for you, is what you should be doing, no matter what I say... :goodjob: :mrgreen:

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Good question Jim. I’m not really sure as I’ve only had the pool for 3 months and for the first month ran it 24/7 at 2750rpms. I guess when I settled on that schedule I figured it would be a good idea for the pump to be off to prevent wear for a few hours.

I have now changed it to run:
3:00am-11:00pm @ 1200rpms
11:00pm-2:00am @ 2750rpms
2:00am-3:00am @ 3000rpms

If there is a more optimal schedule I’m all ears. Although now that I’ve fixed the skimmers and they are pulling much better I could probably just run 24/7 @ 1200rpms and be fine.
I built my first pool this year and asked the same question about pump schedule. Jimrahbe and Newdude responded to me just as they did to you. I wired my pump for 230V and it ran 24/7 for the last 4 months at 40% capacity which was around 1400rpm. This was enought to keep the SWG running at a steady 3400 ppm. They sold me on the idea and after the first season, I have no reason to change. And we really didn't notice an increase in our electric bill, which is a win, win.
 
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