Skimmer Plumbing Question.

[Mark McLeroy]

I think I have been doing this wrong all season and just may have gotten lucky I haven't damaged anything. This spring was the first time I opened the pool myself. There was a Gizmo in the skimmer threaded into the hole closest to the pool. The other hole had a threaded plug in it. Due to heavy rains in late winter and early spring the water level of the pool was over the top of the skimmer and the water had algae and was not clear. I did not see the threaded plug at that time. I installed my pump and removed the Gizmo. All seemed to work well. At my equipment pad, when I have the suction lines pulling from the skimmer only I had good water flow. When I turned the valve and pull from the main drain only I also had good water flow. I never removed the threaded plug from the hole furthest way from the pool in the skimmer. I am not sure when the hole runs to. I plan to drain the pool and inch or two under the skimmer this fall when I close. I can remove the plug then and if I don't see a pipe I know this hole is not connected to anything. But if there is a pipe how do I determine the plumbing??
Thanks..

 

[Newdude]

Most skimmers have 2 holes. In the old days main drain plumbing ran through the skimmer. Sometimes that extra port is still used today for equalization lines or wall suction drains.

Yours is likely unused like mine, because you have a valve to select the main drains. But. The port is still a few inches deep and collects sand and gunk. That's most likely why it's plugged, to keep it clean.

 

[Mark McLeroy]

Most skimmers have 2 holes. In the old days main drain plumbing ran through the skimmer. Sometimes that extra port is still used today for equalization lines or wall suction drains.

Yours is likely unused like mine, because you have a valve to select the main drains. But. The port is still a few inches deep and collects sand and gunk. That's most likely why it's plugged, to keep it clean.

That's what I though, but I would have thought they would have run the hole furthest from the pool to the pump and that is the one with the plug.

 

[Newdude]

Thats the one I'm not using either. The front one goes to the pump. The back one collects crud. I'll probably plug it myself one of these these days. Pull the plug one day when you have a minute. You'll know right away if you can get a whole finger in the hole. If it stops at the second knuckle it's a blank / unused.