Skimmer isn't skimming

[the_sphynx]

So earlier this week I noticed that the skimmer was really sucking water in loudly. It seemed to have been solved by just touching the weir door and then it sort of lifted up and was skimming fine so I walked away.
Yesterday I got home early from work and noticed that the pool surface hadn't been skimmed so I went into the skimmer and noticed that it wasn't moving water at all. The door was fully closed (stood up). I simply went over to the panel and put it into Service mode, waited a few seconds, and then put it back into Pool mode. The pump started up, started sucking water and seemed to be fine even after the initial spin-up.

Well today even doing that isn't helping. I took out the sock so it's just the straight skimmer basket, thinking maybe that had something to do with it but that didn't help. It seems to startup fine, suck a lot of water, then after it spins down to operate at a lower RPM (2200 RPM) you can sort of hear the skimmer bottom stop and then water rushes up and closes the skimmer door. Manually pushing down on the skimmer door doesn't make it suck water either.

I am at a loss for what to do next. As a summary here is what I have done so far.
1. Simply bumped the weir door down and that worked at first (not anymore)
2. Restarted the pump (that worked yesterday but doesn't appear to work today)
3. Removed the sock from the skimmer basket.
4. Removed the skimmer basket, lifted the UFO looking thing out of the bottom and checked to see if that rotating cover had shut but it is open. No blockages in the two holes at the bottom of the skimmer. Put everything back in the skimmer and restarted pump.

It initially sucks water into the system then suddenly stops and the weir door closes.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. If you need pictures let me know.

 

[Texas Splash]

I'll toss a couple items out then let the crowd jump in as well:
- Silly, but have to ask ........ any chance the pool's water level is low?
- Does your weir door have foam pieces that help to keep it positioned? Wondering if something might have come loose?
- Do you notice any damage at the sides - hinge points?

Yeah, a pic of your particular skimmer (front and back if you can) may help.

 

[the_sphynx]

Thanks Pat.
So I watched a YouTube video which explained what that UFO thing does and the two holes at the bottom of the skimmer. I made sure the rubber gasket under that float was nice and tight and it was. I just simply raised the UFO thing and put it back in and the skimmer seems to be working now.
I have an autofill and the level is above the bottom of the skimmer entry, about halfway up my waterline tile so seems about right.
I did take a couple of pictures (after) although I am not sure if they are what you needed. Also, yes there is foam on the back of the weir door. Seems to be intact and doesn't pull off the back of the door easily at all.
No damage to the hinge points that I can see. The door seems to be pretty easy to move up/down.

I'll keep an eye on it and maybe I will recycle the pump startup to see if it actually repeatedly continues to skim...

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bryan,

You have secretly discovered what the weir door is all about... It IS what makes the skimmer work.. If the door is stuck up, the pump will suck all the water out of the skimmer basket.. It the weir door is stuck down you do not get much skimming at all.

In a way, the door allows the water in the skimmer to be slightly lower than the water in the pool. Since water likes to flow downhill, it "falls" into the skimmer basket.. The weir door also helps keep junk from floating back into the pool, but its main job is to meter the water into the skimmer.

It sounds to me like your weir door is bad or broken.. It should float smoothly up and down with the water level..

The higher the water level the worse the skimmer works.. The lower the water level, the better the skimmer works. But if you run it too low, you run the risk of the water level dropping below the skimmer mouth.. That is why we recommend keeping your water level somewhere in the middle of the skimmer mouth..

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[Richard320]

My hunch is low water as well. The pump pulls hard and empties the skimmer well and the diverter closes. Then with no suction, the skimmer fills again. When the pump stops, the float inside the diverter rises and allows water to flow again.

WIthout a diverter, the same sort of thing happens. The pump will empty the skimmer well and suck air and lose prime. Then since there's no pumping, the skimmer well refills, the pump is able to reprime, and the cycle repeats.

Watch it a while. See if the water level in the skimmer slowly goes down. That's low water. If it goes down suddenly, that's a sticky weir. It could be as simple as some soggy leaves clinging to the side of the throat.

 

[the_sphynx]

Thanks Jim/Richard. After I raised the diverter under the basket and reseated it, the skimmer seemed to work fine so I was leaning towards something to do with that. I also suspected the weir door at first but as soon as I reseated that UFO thing everything seems to work. That and my pool is only about 5 months old so I would think that's a pretty short lifecycle on a weir door if so.

I'll try to do a few cycles of the pump and see if I can repeatedly continue to skim. If not, I'll post up again.

Thanks for the help yet again!

 

[the_sphynx]

I know this one a little old but I thought I would update you on how the skimmer is doing.
Like I said above, I essentially reseated the diverter, restarted the pump and it worked. I tested it that day with about 3 different pump restarts and they all worked. Been working fine all last week. I stopped checking on it about Wednesday actually.

Went out of town on Saturday morning (left before the pump comes on for the day). Came back Sunday mid-morning and the skimmer apparently didn't work. Opened up the skimmer top, the bottom of the sock was floating up, pool surface looked super dirty.

I turned the pump off, removed the skimmer basket, reseated the diverter, restarted the pump, skimmer stayed skimming even after the initial wind-up of the pump.

Let it skim for about an hour or so, surface was looking good. I restarted the pump just to see if the skimmer would fail after the initial spin-up and it did. I decided maybe the diverter needed that little moving cover on the bottom (with the single screw at the hinge) to be "closed" more. So I closed it a little more. I also paid close attention to which way I put the diverter back down at the bottom of the skimmer with the cover at the bottom on the side of the skimmer where the "main drain" hole is. On my skimmer I believe that is the left hole when looking down at it. Restarted the pump 3 times and it seems to kick on and stay on fine.

I left for work today before the pump kicks on so I guess I'll check it out today when I get home. Not sure what else to do here though if it doesn't consistently stay on. I have seen lots of people who just remove the diverter altogether and I am open to that but I am not sure how that will impact the skimmer. I assume the part is there for reason. I am not sure it's normal for people to have this many quicks with the skimmer. I was hoping for a sort of set it and forget it situation other than me cleaning/replacing the sock occasionally.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bryan,

You have a newer pool so I would have to "assume" your main drain is connected to your equipment pad... If so, what is the diverter for?

I have two old rent house pools where the main drain is plumbed into the bottom of the skimmer.. Neither has a diverter and the pools work great without an operating main drain.

My pool is newer and the skimmer is plumbed into the side wall of the pool, If I had diverters installed, and the water level fell below the mouth of the skimmers, the pump would not run dry.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[the_sphynx]

Thanks Jim. I do have a suction port on the side of my pool. There is a valve at the equipment pad that allows me to control the suction to that side port. I have that valve currently set to 100% skimmer/pool suction. I am not sure why the diverter is there. There is definitely 2 holes at the bottom of my skimmer. I perhaps just assumed one was plumbed into the main drain and one into the pump.

For what it's worth, I got home yesterday afternoon and the skimmer wasn't working. Semi-floating sock in there. Reseated the diverter and worked just fine. Stopped the pump, removed the diverter altogether, restarted pump. Pump initially spun up high, lots of water runs into the skimmer then the pump stopped altogether. I assume because it maybe wasn't getting enough water? After about 10-20 seconds or so, the pump kicked back on. Initially ran high for a few seconds, wanter runs into the skimmer as before but this time after the spin-down the pump stayed on and water flowed fine. Ran for a few hours to clean up the surface and killed it before bed.

This morning I started it up, same thing. Except this time the pump started/stopped maybe 3 times before it stayed on sucking water. I went ahead and placed the diverter back but kept the door about 50% closed on that hole. Seemed to be working as left this morning. I will probably have some time this afternoon when I get home to mess with it again. Thought it was interesting that even without the diverter there seems to be something funny about that skimmer. I may have the builder come out and take a look at it to see if they can shed some light.

 

[Rancho Cost-a-Lotta]

It sounds like your set up is like mine. The diverter controls suction balance between the skimmer and main drain. Mine occasionally gets stuck in the closed position when the water level is too low when the pump is in prime mode.

As Pat and Richard suggest, I think your water level is too low. The diverter is designed to shut and pull from the second source if the water level gets too low. It looks like your skimmer photo shows an existing waterline an inch or two above the current level.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Bryan,

Do you have the IntelliFlo with the SVRS option????? If you don't know, go look at the pump and take a couple of pics, showing the pump label..

How about showing us a couple of pics of your equipment pad.. Most new pools have their main drain plumbed back to the equipment pad, not the skimmer..

Pictures of your pad will help us to help you..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[the_sphynx]

Thanks guys, once I get back to the house I'll take some pics. I have an autofill and the waterline doesn't seem out of whack but maybe I will figure out how to raise it a bit.

 

[borjis]

It should be noted that for whatever reason, not all skimmers are installed at the correct level.
They usually are installed proper level, but not always.

The skimmer on my pool for example, sucks air and vortexes if I only fill to the halfway point on the skimmer.
I have to actually maintain a slightly higher water level to ensure it works properly.

 

[the_sphynx]

As it turns out, I have a couple of pics of my pump (attached) from something else I was researching a while back. My waterline tile is essentially a 4"x4" tile that has 4x 2"x2" tiles on it in a quadrant pattern so I have like a grout line about 2" up the waterline tile. My waterline, as far as I can recall has been about a half inch lower than that grout line. If I remember correctly, my float for the autofill, might about as far up as it can go without impeding on my ability to place the lid on it and still match the height of the pavers. If I raise it much more, then the lid sticks up a bit and actually rests on the top of the float valve stem.

Again, not home right now so going off my memory. I'll clear it up later this evening.

 

[the_sphynx]

Following up here. I didn't realize the better half had plans yesterday to run errands after work so didn't get a chance to take many pictures of the setup but I tried anyway.

I got home and the skimmer was going just fine. Cleaned out the sock, restarted and the skimmer worked just fine. It stopped at it's regularly scheduled time.

I did mess with the auto-fill. I raised it so that the lid rests directly on the top of the float stem. The autofill was filling up when I left it last night.
This morning, the pool's waterline has clearly raised about a half to 3/4 of an inch to be pretty much at the grout line. Skimmer kicked on and stayed on as intended today with no interaction from myself. Looks like good flow in the skimmer as well at this point.

Pictures of the auto-fill valve/lid and old waterline level attached.

 

[borjis]

This morning, the pool's waterline has clearly raised about a half to 3/4 of an inch to be pretty much at the grout line.

From that photo it looks to me that the grout line is your actual fill level line.
My previous home/plaster pool had the grout line in the same area as yours.
It was the fill line when I bought the place. Never had any issues as long as it was maintained.

 

[the_sphynx]

Here is the updated waterline as of this morning. So far so good at this level. Maybe I'll follow up on this thread in a week hopefully to close this one out