Pool skimmer valve

[Juliendm]

Hi everyone,

My skimmer seems not to be sucking in all the surface debris. An existing float valve is in place at the bottom, and is being retained by the suction. I have a weir flap in place, the water is not getting dragged in to the skimmer along with the debris. When I remove the float valve from the bottom, water and surface debris get in the skimmer as expected. The existing float does not have the little closer that allows to control the aperture at the bottom. Is that a problem ? Do I need to get one ? Anything else that might be an issue ?? Should I just leave the float valve out of the skimmer ? I don t want to damage my pump/filter... please help !

Thanks in advance,

Julien

 

[Jimrahbe]

Julien,

In most cases the little diverter valve below the skimmer basket selects either the Main Drain or the Skimmer.. If the valve is being held in place by the suction, then you are drawing water from the main drain and not the skimmer...

In my experience, you are better off just taking the floating diverter out. I have two rent house pools that have no operational main drains and they work just fine.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Juliendm]

Jim,

Thanks a lot for your quick answer.

Is that not going to damage the filter/pump?

I am still learning about pool equipment and maintenance and have read a lot of differents thing about the diverter valve/float valve. In what case would I want the main drain to draw water VS skimmer ? That is what confuses me.

Thanks a lot ??

 

[Jimrahbe]

It won't hurt a thing..

Please tell us all about your pool, by completing your pool's signature.. Use mine for a reference.

Once we know what you have, we can get you some better answers..

Jim R.

 

[Juliendm]

Sounds good, I just did update my signature. Let me know what you think. It looks like by removing the floater, my pressure at the filter went up to almost 25psi.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Julien,

The gauge on the filter tells you how much effort it takes to force water through the filter and back to the pool. Lower is almost always better..

25 PSI means you either have a very big pump or your filter is very dirty... or maybe both... When was the last time you cleaned it?

What was the filter pressure before you removed the diverter?

I assume you have a single speed pump. What HP is it?

Are you sure all the return lines to the pool are open?

With the diverter removed, how does the skimmer seem to be working?

Where is your water level? It should be in the middle of the skimmer or slightly higher...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Juliendm]

Jim, the pressure was about 20psi before I remove the inverter. However I think it is time for a filter cleaning. The new filter has been installed in july, but I had a very bad algae issue when I moved in that house, so the filter worked very hard already to clean the pool. The pressure was originally closer to 12-15psi when installed.

The pump is a 1HP, all return lines are open (I will send a photo later), the water level is approx. at half of the skimmer height.

Without the inverted, the skimmer seemed to work faster and more efficiently than with. I just want to make sure that it does not damage the pump/filter.

Best regards,

Julien Dm

 

[Jimrahbe]

Julien,

Based upon your input, your filter is way beyond time to clean it...

When you have algae, you have to clean a cartridge filter just about every day...

We say when the pressure increases by 25%.. So, if the clean pressure is 15, then you need to clean it when the pressure gets to about 19...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Juliendm]

Oh wow sounds good, I will clean it asap then !! We had a really bad Algae Issue when installing the new pump, so it worked a lot, and we cleaned it at the time, but I guess having the tree right above the pool does not help either. Will take care of that, Thanks a lot !