Skimmer stopped skimming

[ambercsmith0]

New to pool ownership. Some time in the last few days my skimmer seems to have stopped skimming. The skimmer basket is no longer getting pulled down into the skimmer "cavity" and the weir flap is no longer getting pulled just under the surface of the water to allow debris in. Surface debris is not getting cleared as quickly as before, but it is getting mostly cleared somehow over time (most likely from the main drains).. The skimmer basket has been relatively empty the last few days when it usually has plenty to empty each morning. I run the pump about 8 hrs from 8pm-4am everyday (we have trees near the pool that drop a fair amount of debris). I only have one skimmer.

I emptied the pump basket and saw no change.
The weir flap is in good condition with no debris.
I put my hand down in the suction hole and I can feel good suction.
The water level is normal.
The filter pressure is normal.
We do not have a float valve.

The only thing I can think that might have caused this is that in the last few days my husband cleaned out a lot of stuck debris from the caps of the main drains and that increased the suction from the main drains and therefore decreased the power of the skimmer. But when the pool was installed (with clean drain caps circa2006) the skimmer would have been skimming fine, so it doesn't make sense that cleaning the drain caps would make the skimmer not skim properly.

Any recommendations would be appreciated!

 

[Texas Splash]

How about you post a pic of your equipment pad so we can see the valves and everything you have there. It might help get us started better.

 

[ambercsmith0]

I'm not sure if this is the best angle. It has walls on all sides so its a tight space.

 

[HermanTX]

On your suction to the pool pump it looks like you have 2 lines - 1 is skimmer(s) and other is main drain. The 2 way valve is turned partial to 1 or the other. It is not marked so do you know which is which? To determine, turn valve handle so 1 side is off and the other is full open. Mark which is skimmer and main drain. Once determined, then turn valve to shut off main drain and have 100% suction from the skimmer. Do you see any improvement? Let run for a while then go 50% to both. Do you still have adequate suction through the skimmer?

 

[ambercsmith0]

Yes! That was it! Thank you! The labels all wore off years ago so I didn't know what was what. The valve was turned to mostly close off the skimmer line. My husband claims he didn't turn any valves when he cleaned the drains, but I'm not so sure that was the case. I have it turned to 50/50 now. I guess I adjust it according to which I need to pull harder to keep the pool clean and well circulated?

Thank you to you both!

 

[HermanTX]

That's great news. Glad it was just a valve positioning issue. In defense of your husband - sometimes you can accidently kick the handle when working around the equipment pad. That little screw on top of the handle is a locking mechanism. Unscrew it, turn the handle to the desired position and then tighten the screw again to lock the handle in place. I tend to have mine on 75% open to skimmer. This provides good circulation. In the fall I sometimes go to 100% skimmer to ensure good skimming of leaves. Good Luck.