Skimmer face plate cover leaking

[jhardy93]

Winterized my pool yesterday. Also realized the winter skimmer face plate cover appears to have a leak. I also have a plug in the bottom of the skimmer. So the water is not flowing into the rest of the system. (Which is good because I air locked the rest of it. I have an above ground pool but I'm underground filtration system to a pad that's further away.)

So right now I have water in the skimmer box sitting right outside the pool which I am afraid is going to freeze and crack the skimmer. I'm going to try to suck or bail it out. But I still need to fix the leak. I don't know if there's a product I can use to help the seal the face plate better. Or if by chance I just got a faulty skimmer box cover. If anyone ran into anything similar and has any thoughts it would be appreciated.

 

[Newdude]

If anyone ran into anything similar and has any thoughts it would be appreciated.

I couldn't understand why these failed and had terrible reviews until I tried one on the 17 year old pool we inherited by moving. The brand new plate was perfectly square. The exposed to 17 years of UV, freeze and heat skimmer was no longer square or plum. So eventhough it was difficult to press into place with a thick rubber gasket, one corner leaked and the skimmer was full in minutes. It wasn't the plates fault, but you know how people are.

But that's OK. It's main job is to keep the skimmer separated from the main ice rink in the middle of the pool. If that shifts while having a hold on the skimmer, it can buckle the whole wall in an unrepairable way.

So keep the leaky cover. Stuff a cut up pool noodle in the skimmer. You only need to allow ice to expand about 10%. If the skimmer is 92% noodle, you're GOLDEN.

 

[jhardy93]

Thanks for the idea. I was only blaming the plate since the pool was new this year I figured that skimmer opening shouldn't be out of shape yet. I'll bail some water out stuff some pool noodles in there and see how it goes. Took a little while to fill up the first time.

 

[Newdude]

I was only blaming the plate since the pool was new this year I figured that skimmer opening shouldn't be out of shape yet

Lube up the rubber and flip the plate 180 degrees. Maybe its closer the other direction.

If not it will still serve a great purpose. I wish everything that failed still did.

 

[phonedave]

Winterized my pool yesterday. Also realized the winter skimmer face plate cover appears to have a leak. I also have a plug in the bottom of the skimmer. So the water is not flowing into the rest of the system. (Which is good because I air locked the rest of it. I have an above ground pool but I'm underground filtration system to a pad that's further away.)

So right now I have water in the skimmer box sitting right outside the pool which I am afraid is going to freeze and crack the skimmer. I'm going to try to suck or bail it out. But I still need to fix the leak. I don't know if there's a product I can use to help the seal the face plate better. Or if by chance I just got a faulty skimmer box cover. If anyone ran into anything similar and has any thoughts it would be appreciated.

What kind of plate are you using. The pop in kind, the snap over kind, or the remove half the screws and then screw it on kind?