Skimmer type and Wier door

[BobVila]

Hello

Pool owner going on 2 years now and haven't had much luck with hiring pool service, so I'm taking over! I sure have a lot to learn, starting with understanding my setup. Thanks to this forum, I discovered that I should have a Wier door on my skimmers. I’m also trying to figure out how the skimmers are plumbed. I'm attaching a few pics and would like help please! My skimmers (2 of them) have a single hole in the bottom and 2 other holes on the side. The higher hole on the side is threaded. I know the bottom center hole goes to my pump, but don't know about the others. The skimmer nearest to the pool equipment has both side holes plugged as far as I can tell. The skimmer on the other side has the top side hole (threaded hole) not plugged and the other lower side hole plugged. This is an inground pool built in the late 90s. There are 2 suction lines that go into the pump and they are labeled spa and pool, so I’m guessing the main drain and skimmers are tied together. Maybe if I can narrow down the skimmer model number I can make sure I have it all set up correctly. Thanks in advance!

 

[HermanTX]

Welcome to the forum. There is plenty of support from both the experts and the contributors.

Assuming you have a main drain in the pool - then that is tied to the skimmer. So in the event that your water level would drop below the skimmer door then the suction from the main drain will continue to feed your pump. Also, your 2 skimmer lines must join up somewhere underground and come into 1 pipe to your pump which is labeled pool suction. The other suction line as you noted is from the spa main drain. You simply turn that 3 way valve to go from one to the other.

It appears you have a Pentair DE filter as you have that multi-position valve in front of it with that blue drain line. That should be extended when you backwash. You should backwash your DE filter monthly and do a full clean twice a year. Obviously that can vary by the how much debris you may get in your pool from trees, etc., but that is how I do my DE filter. Remember to mix the DE in water and pour it in the nearest skimmer to the pump directly after you backwash (or fully clean) your filter.

On your return side, the pool return goes directly into the ground. Note the line leading to the suction side of the booster pump. That is for your cleaner and the main filter pump should be running when you run your pressure side cleaner.

Your spa return appears to turn upwards but the picture does not show where it connects to the pipe that leads back to the spa return jets.

Do you have a Pentair heater? Is it powered by natural gas?

You may want to update your signature under your profile to show all the equipment you have as well as how many gallons for your pool & spa as this will help responders when you ask other questions.

Also, if you have taken over management of your pool, it would be best to have your test kit. See Test Kits Compared

 

[BobVila]

Wow thanks for the quick response! I’ll update my signature with more details. You are correct I have a Pentair DE filter. Yes the spa return line goes up and I think that is because the spa is at a higher elevation…forms kind of a check valve. My pool is about 35x20 feet by 4 feet deep so I estimate about 16,000 gallons. The system used to have a gas heater but it is not functioning and I have bypassed it. Yesterday I opened up the filter and cleaned it so it’s running well. Its steady state seems to be about 18psi. I was also able to determine that I have baker hydro skimmers, so I’ve installed weir doors and they seem to be skimming much better. I’ll definitely check out the test kits…so much to learn!