As I suspected. Shutting the weir does exactly doodley squat for making water move anywhere else. It just runs the skimmer dry.
I’ll have to put my tunneling hat on.
I’ll have to put my tunneling hat on.
Replumb and new equipment help
- Thread starter Kaylee34
- Start date
I believe it works differently. Instead of the main drain being the second hole it surely sounds like it's the oddball return which is not a common occurrence. The way I think it works is if the basket were to get full to the point where it blocks flow then it'll pull from the second spot but choking off the water supply via the weir door will just cause cavitation. The way it's set up now it can't be used for suction side cleaning. You'll have to resort to the vac hose and the adapter. I'd leave well enough alone @the pool and just concentrate on the equipment pad to bring it up to date. Just be aware the single main drain isn't up to code and if the upgraded drain cover hasn't been installed I'd recommend it highly. Lots of pools work without main drains so in your case you can set the diverter valve 10% open and use most of the suction for skimming.
That is what I think too but dang if I can understand how that would work and why it was done this particular way.
I can always choke off the skimmer basket and test that theory. I’ve got plenty of leaves. LOL!
I’ll do that another day and report back.
Best speculation is that this was done when the new liner was put in. Now why they’d do this instead of putting another hole under the skimmer is beyond me. Seems like a lot of plumbing work and the oddball location just screams former return jet at me.
It’s not the original skimmer and no telling when, why or how that was changed out so might have actually been an easy conversion plumbing wise if the lines all run under the decking (probably do).
Half of that whole side of the pool is a dead zone with no circulation. Everything collects in the corner. Be nice to have a return jet there.
I’ll still do some digging to at least try and find out what’s what. It’s good exercise too. You’re right though and I may well end up leaving it alone. We will see what I unearth.
Main drain cover looks new (at least not 1980’s) so I’m positive as can be that was replaced with the liner a couple years ago. I’m aware it’s not up to code. No small children here or that will be visiting so no worries there. If it traps anything else, well, I guess I didn’t clean the pool often enough.
Running the main drain at ~10% is the plan. Just enough to keep it flowing water.
Ordering SWG tomorrow and comparing pump curves for that final decision.
Any thoughts on cartridge filter beyond the biggest I can afford? Looking at one large filter media versus 4 or 5 smaller media, I’m leaning towards the multiple media. Any input there? Pros/cons of each?
Ok. Tried it. Had to add chlorine tonight anyway.
Put suction valve on 100% skimmer. Pulled the skimmer basket, packed it with leaves and I mean packed. Put that back in the skimmer. Went to fetch chlorine. No appreciable suction at the oddball. Stuck the eyeball back in. Nope, just a trickle. It won’t suck up a small leaf. A little dirt maybe. Took eyeball back out.
Packed the entire skimmer with leaves and yard mess. Really jammed it full until I couldn’t shove anymore in there and stuff was pushing back out the top. Put a brick on the lid it to hold it down. No appreciable change at the oddball.
Went and poured LC by the ladder. Checked the oddball, no change.
Put stuff away and check the pump. It’s a little loud and cavitating slightly. Checked the oddball and no change. Changed valve to add a little main drain and pump gets happy again.
Checked the oddball again and nope. Cleaned out the skimmer and left the pump as it is.
So, I think wireform is right about the plumbing and my oddball just doesn’t work worth 5 cents. With the amount of air I can push through there I know it’s not a blockage. Maybe not enough suction to make it work as intended. Maybe it used to be or was intended to be another skimmer. The pool isn’t telling.
I’ll investigate the pressure side when equipment starts arriving and then decide on how much digging I want to do.
Put suction valve on 100% skimmer. Pulled the skimmer basket, packed it with leaves and I mean packed. Put that back in the skimmer. Went to fetch chlorine. No appreciable suction at the oddball. Stuck the eyeball back in. Nope, just a trickle. It won’t suck up a small leaf. A little dirt maybe. Took eyeball back out.
Packed the entire skimmer with leaves and yard mess. Really jammed it full until I couldn’t shove anymore in there and stuff was pushing back out the top. Put a brick on the lid it to hold it down. No appreciable change at the oddball.
Went and poured LC by the ladder. Checked the oddball, no change.
Put stuff away and check the pump. It’s a little loud and cavitating slightly. Checked the oddball and no change. Changed valve to add a little main drain and pump gets happy again.
Checked the oddball again and nope. Cleaned out the skimmer and left the pump as it is.
So, I think wireform is right about the plumbing and my oddball just doesn’t work worth 5 cents. With the amount of air I can push through there I know it’s not a blockage. Maybe not enough suction to make it work as intended. Maybe it used to be or was intended to be another skimmer. The pool isn’t telling.
I’ll investigate the pressure side when equipment starts arriving and then decide on how much digging I want to do.
Oh not sure you know this but the salt cell aka SWCG needs to be 2X pool capacity at minimum. Ask here before you buy. You never mentioned pool capacity. Pool liner being changed would have nothing to do with plumbing as that's exterior to the walls and has no bearing on the liner change. You can always dig on the oddball side, disconnect what's there, cap off the pipe going towards the skimmer and run a new line straight to the pad. You can decide later what you want to do with it. I don't recommend you designate it for a cleaner because robotic cleaners do a better job independent of the filter system.
No plans for a suction or pressure cleaner. Prior owners left a robot that works well for an old guy and I don’t mind running the manual vac when needed.
If I mess with the oddball at all, your suggestion is exactly what I’m thinking of doing. Going to see what’s going where at the pad and exactly what kind of piping is buried there before digging at the oddball.
Pool is approximately 26000 gallons. I measured 18x36. House papers said 16x32. Depth is 6 ft average. Chop the corners off and I use either 24000 or 25000 gallons in poolmath.
SWG decided at Circupool RJ60. Can’t beat the price with the warranty and most here seem happy with it.
VS pump still undecided. Most likely 3.0 THP but comparing curves. I’d love to have the gold standard Pentair but my budget won’t stand that expense and a new filter.
Filter will be cartridge type and the biggest the budget allows. Leaning towards Pentair. Filter needs to be replaced or repaired. It’s leaking a little DE into the pool and replacing the entire gut assembly will run almost as much as a new cartridge filter. I can’t see repairing it.
I’ll keep the old equipment around for emergency spares though.
If I mess with the oddball at all, your suggestion is exactly what I’m thinking of doing. Going to see what’s going where at the pad and exactly what kind of piping is buried there before digging at the oddball.
Pool is approximately 26000 gallons. I measured 18x36. House papers said 16x32. Depth is 6 ft average. Chop the corners off and I use either 24000 or 25000 gallons in poolmath.
SWG decided at Circupool RJ60. Can’t beat the price with the warranty and most here seem happy with it.
VS pump still undecided. Most likely 3.0 THP but comparing curves. I’d love to have the gold standard Pentair but my budget won’t stand that expense and a new filter.
Filter will be cartridge type and the biggest the budget allows. Leaning towards Pentair. Filter needs to be replaced or repaired. It’s leaking a little DE into the pool and replacing the entire gut assembly will run almost as much as a new cartridge filter. I can’t see repairing it.
I’ll keep the old equipment around for emergency spares though.
ManiacalMama
Bronze Supporter
- Jul 18, 2017
- 244
- Pool Size
- 13500
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-30 Plus
I know this post is kind of old, and you may have already gotten the oddball port figured out. But it sounds like it is plumbed to the skimmer the same way my main drain is...which is, it would need a float valve to function. My first guess was that really is a vacuum port, but you would need to adjust the float valve to the closed position to use it. But even more likely - it's an equalizer line, in which case you still need a float valve in there and just have it adjusted all the way open.
Can anyone else confirm my suspicion about Kaylee's oddball port?
Can anyone else confirm my suspicion about Kaylee's oddball port?