Skimmer efficiency

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AZAA

AZAA

Silver Supporter
Apr 9, 2020
176
Gold Canyon AZ
Pool Size
13000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
I have an odd shaped pool with one skimmer (red arrow). Even with my pump at 3100rpm and Jandy valve set to all skimmer/no floor, I get no (or very little) surface movement towards the skimmer. Leaves and stuff tend to eddy out at the two areas circled in yellow (wind also has an effect on that). I have my pool water return set to almost all floor to make my pop-ups work better. The side jets didn't seem to circulate the water any better (if that's part of their job).
Yesterday was very windy with lots of leaves in the yellow areas and almost none in the skimmer basket. (RPM was 2400 all day)IMG_6506.jpg
Is there something else I should be setting or doing?
 
AZAA said:
Is there something else I should be setting or doing?
Click to expand...
Can you take the same picture and put prevailing wind and location of jets?

Generally, if you put your jets to the side (pointing horizontal and bit toward the surface), you can get better circulation on the surface.

Finally, where is the water in your skimmer entrance? 30% up, 50% up, 75% up? (how full is the window). Do you have a weir door?
 
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PoolStored said:
Can you take the same picture and put prevailing wind and location of jets?

Generally, if you put your jets to the side (pointing horizontal and bit toward the surface), you can get better circulation on the surface.

Finally, where is the water in your skimmer entrance? 30% up, 50% up, 75% up? (how full is the window). Do you have a weir door?
Click to expand...
The jets have seemed stuck in place the last time I tried to adjust them. More than one seemed broken around the edges as if someone previous had tried harder than I cared to.
Right now, after some serious rain, the skimmer entrance is about 50%. It's usually around 25% or so (I think). What should I aim for?
Thanks for your response.
 
1/2 way up the opening of the mouth of the skimmer or a scootch above is ideal water level for most pools with a functioning weir door.
If your weir door is missing or not operating properly it will drastically effect how well your skimmer skims.
Adjusting the jets until you get the desired effect as mentioned above is the other part of this equation- without that ability you are just stuck with what you have. You should look into replacing the return eyeballs if they aren’t able to be adjusted.
 
From a fellow Arizonan, that’s a classic design flaw of pools built around here. PBs do their best to go as cheap as possible (while charging the homeowner premium markups) and only use one skimmer. When (if) a person request two, they throw a fit about the pool not being big enough for two, and it causes suction problems, blah, blah, blah. And they never place the skimmer based on prevailing winds. I feel your pain as my skimmer is also located at the end of the pool where the wind never blows stuff to.

Your best bet — get one of those robotic skimmers that swim around the pool all day. @Katodude has an army of them and can attest to their use and lifespan.
 
JoyfulNoise said:
From a fellow Arizonan, that’s a classic design flaw of pools built around here. PBs do their best to go as cheap as possible (while charging the homeowner premium markups) and only use one skimmer. When (if) a person request two, they throw a fit about the pool not being big enough for two, and it causes suction problems, blah, blah, blah. And they never place the skimmer based on prevailing winds. I feel your pain as my skimmer is also located at the end of the pool where the wind never blows stuff to.

Your best bet — get one of those robotic skimmers that swim around the pool all day. @Katodude has an army of them and can attest to their use and lifespan.
Click to expand...
Huh...I've never seen a surface robot skimmer. I'll look into it. Thanks
 

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Mdragger88 said:
1/2 way up the opening of the mouth of the skimmer or a scootch above is ideal water level for most pools with a functioning weir door.
If your weir door is missing or not operating properly it will drastically effect how well your skimmer skims.
Adjusting the jets until you get the desired effect as mentioned above is the other part of this equation- without that ability you are just stuck with what you have. You should look into replacing the return eyeballs if they aren’t able to be adjusted.
Click to expand...
OK thanks. I'll look into replacing the eyeballs (That's what I called them but it seemed like a silly name. Thanks:geek:.)
 
mknauss said:
Skimming will be very inefficient with that setting.

Downside of in floor cleaning.

Do you have automation?
Click to expand...
If by automation you mean a programable variable speed pump, then yes. I don't have the control box that handles timing, heater, etc.
I've discovered that the pop-ups aren't the best solution, but that's what I have. I've looked into a floor robot so I could divert all replacement water to the wall jets, but I'm not yet comfortable about what type to get. Thanks.
 
BTW, I don't know why my replies don't appear directly under the answer to which I'm responding. I pick the "Reply" without the "Quote" directly below the response but it STILL shows up at the bottom of the list. I apologize for all the extra scrolling.
 
To make your system work better you would need automation to move valves to direct water to infloor or wall return.
 
AZAA said:
BTW, I don't know why my replies don't appear directly under the answer to which I'm responding. I pick the "Reply" without the "Quote" directly below the response but it STILL shows up at the bottom of the list. I apologize for all the extra scrolling.
Click to expand...

The website software keeps everything sequentially listed rather than using the standard threaded approach. If you hit “REPLY” to a specific post, it copies it into your post and the person you reply to gets notified (assuming their notification settings are set properly). It looks better this way, especially on mobile browsers, than to have multi-tiered collapsible threads.
 
Correct. With automation you would put an actuator on that valve and direct the flow to either wall returns or in floor based on your needs.
 
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