After one week of having people over and in the pool we had the top tab on the skimmer weir door break to prevent it from going both ways, then the door it self broke. I replaced it with the same Hayward door, but no top tab. It broke again. I am looking at trying to find a universal door that won’t break. Any recommendations? Just from what I have seen it looks like the Aqua Power Weir door would work and prevent the issue I am having without replacing the whole skimmer housing. Another option I found was the Skim doctor 2.0. Anybody have experience with any of these? Or any suggestions?
Skimmer Weir
- Thread starter DomFoster
- Start date
sktn77a
Gold Supporter
Do you know what kind of skimmer you have (is it definitely a hayward)? Read the reviews on Amazon for both before you decide.
It is a Hayward. This is what I have:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004VTG6TU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Since the top tab to keep the door from opening towards the pool broke, the hinge part on the new weir door broke. I am hoping to find something that would prevent that like the aqua power which doesn’t rely on a tab to keep the door from being able to open 180 degrees.
Another fix I guess would be to make my own tab. I was just wondering if someone had a fix or knew any doors out there that wouldn’t break on me eventually.
- Apr 10, 2018
- 5,148
- Pool Size
- 18375
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45
You can do away with the weir door and find a use a floating weir basket. You'll probably need to make sure the part you find fits your skimmer. My new pool came with one and it works great. Here is previous discussion for more info: Floating Weirs?
Ha, Dom, I have the same one, and just broke mine yesterday.
I’m not following you in what you mean by “top tab”? Are you referring to the weir door itself?
The weir door broke at the insert part that connects to the skimmer housing, but I think it broke due to the tab on the skimmer house breaking which allows for the weir door to move 180 degrees which happens when there is a lot of splashing in the pool.
See attached photo. This is the tab I am talking about and think I will continue to have the problem unless I can get a door that doesn’t have the weak point due to excess torque.
Ahh I got ya now. You know I have to look, but I don’t recall if mine has that stopper or not. 
I know my door just floated in the closed position when the pump was off. But I would imagine you could easily use a small stainless steel L bracket and screw to make your own?
Now I have to go see if I have one.
I know my door just floated in the closed position when the pump was off. But I would imagine you could easily use a small stainless steel L bracket and screw to make your own?Now I have to go see if I have one.
Well I’m glad you started this thread, otherwise I would have never noticed it missing. Yup, it’s gone. I can feel where it used to be, but I can tell it hasn’t been there for quite a while. I guess my cannon ball yesterday was the final straw for it. No biggie, I ordered a new one from Amazon yesterday, and it will be here tomorrow.
Once I have it in, I’ll see how big of an L bracket I’ll need to repair it. Another thing I thought of, but don’t know how it would hold up against chlorine, is to hot glue a strip of foam (like pipe insulation) across the top to act as a bumper. Dunno, but I’ll figure something out. 
Once I have it in, I’ll see how big of an L bracket I’ll need to repair it. Another thing I thought of, but don’t know how it would hold up against chlorine, is to hot glue a strip of foam (like pipe insulation) across the top to act as a bumper.
Dunno, but I’ll figure something out. Rob,
Ya that’s what I think happened to mine is from a bunch of people in the pool splashing. That’s a good idea on the L-bracket. I will have to take a look to see how long it will have to be, also not sure on how easy it would be to attach, unless I drilled it into the side versus the top. Let me know if you find something that works cause I might just go with the floating weir or the skim doctor. Only issue I see with those is the inability to retain the larger vegetation that gets blown into my pool. Keep me posted.
Ya that’s what I think happened to mine is from a bunch of people in the pool splashing. That’s a good idea on the L-bracket. I will have to take a look to see how long it will have to be, also not sure on how easy it would be to attach, unless I drilled it into the side versus the top. Let me know if you find something that works cause I might just go with the floating weir or the skim doctor. Only issue I see with those is the inability to retain the larger vegetation that gets blown into my pool. Keep me posted.
Yeah I jumped in my pool last night to get a closer look at the skimmer throat. I think the L bracket is going to work perfectly.
Because the original plastic stop that is supposed to be there is set forward, (towards the pool) it gives me about 3/4 of an inch to work with before it would hit the weir door being in its vertical state.
The one thing I am stuck on is how long will it hold up to the door pounding on it constantly? Obviously the original plastic stopper only took a beating for so long before going down for the count. I just don’t want it pulling out the screws from a beating, so I’m thinking I need to install something that is longer on the ceiling part so I can put more screws along the ceiling part.
I’m going to do a little walking around Home Depot today and see what I can find. I’ll keep you posted.
Because the original plastic stop that is supposed to be there is set forward, (towards the pool) it gives me about 3/4 of an inch to work with before it would hit the weir door being in its vertical state.
The one thing I am stuck on is how long will it hold up to the door pounding on it constantly? Obviously the original plastic stopper only took a beating for so long before going down for the count. I just don’t want it pulling out the screws from a beating, so I’m thinking I need to install something that is longer on the ceiling part so I can put more screws along the ceiling part.
I’m going to do a little walking around Home Depot today and see what I can find. I’ll keep you posted.
Yeah I jumped in my pool last night to get a closer look at the skimmer throat. I think the L bracket is going to work perfectly.
Because the original plastic stop that is supposed to be there is set forward, (towards the pool) it gives me about 3/4 of an inch to work with before it would hit the weir door being in its vertical state.
The one thing I am stuck on is how long will it hold up to the door pounding on it constantly? Obviously the original plastic stopper only took a beating for so long before going down for the count. I just don’t want it pulling out the screws from a beating, so I’m thinking I need to install something that is longer on the ceiling part so I can put more screws along the ceiling part.
I’m going to do a little walking around Home Depot today and see what I can find. I’ll keep you posted.
I'm in the same boat. I'll be interested in hearing what you come up with. Maybe caulk or super glue the piece to the top so when it does fail it doesn't leave a larger hole in it's place.
Yeah, I already shut my autofill off as I need the water to drop down so I can get in there to work. Gimme a day or two and I’ll follow up.
For what it worth, I've been using a universal door with nothing stopping from swing wherever the water takes it for six years and it seems to do a pretty good job of keeping the junk in the skimmer. Of course there was no door there when we bought the house and that is my only other reference.
My only complaint is that the spring that holds it in place rusts away after a year or year and a half.
My only complaint is that the spring that holds it in place rusts away after a year or year and a half.
sktn77a
Gold Supporter
Superglue won't work on anything other that perfectly flat/perfectly matched surfaces. Epoxy might work but it should be screwed also. I would definitely do it on the top, not the sides to minimize any chance of a leak developing.
I've got an IG pool but one of my skimmers (one farthest from pump) barely trapped anything. I got one of the skim doctor 2 units to go on top of basket and it actually works pretty good. It pulls in more debris by creating a small vortex on surface and pulls everything down into basket. Much cleaner and you can remove weir door completely since you don't have stuff floating back into pool. Thinking about getting one for my close to pump skimmer...it doesn't need it but the weir door makes noise during wavy water. You can also use the cheap hair nets on the basket to trap fine debris with the skim doctor. The 3" barrel at the top of the skim doctor is adjustable so you can tweak it for best performance. Another reason I may get another one is that the weir doors I have are the spring loaded type--previous owner had no weir doors on returns when we moved in, so I ordered 2. Anyway, the holly trees shading our pool have very hard curved leaves when they fall and they get stuck in weir door and cause problems.
So it begins. I hit up Home Depot yesterday and grabbed some stainless L brackets and screws. I looked all over for something longer in stainless that I could get a more spread out grip on the ceiling of the skimmer, but no luck.
So when I got home and looking at the brackets more, it was still bothering me that the screw holes are so close together. Not wanting to put pressure on the plastic so close together was a problem. Then it dawned on me that I had a piece of aluminum left over that would be perfect.
So I had a 7” piece of aluminum stock that’s about an inch wide that I bent in the shape of an elongated L, and then drilled out the screw holes and countersunk them as well. I filed down all the sharp edges so if you anyone ever reached into the skimmer from the pool, no one would get cut up.
So I needed the water to be below the skimmer to do the work, as I don’t want my tools in the water. So I dropped the pump in the pool, and in a little bit I’ll be able to start the repair. Stay tuned.
So when I got home and looking at the brackets more, it was still bothering me that the screw holes are so close together. Not wanting to put pressure on the plastic so close together was a problem. Then it dawned on me that I had a piece of aluminum left over that would be perfect.
So I had a 7” piece of aluminum stock that’s about an inch wide that I bent in the shape of an elongated L, and then drilled out the screw holes and countersunk them as well. I filed down all the sharp edges so if you anyone ever reached into the skimmer from the pool, no one would get cut up.
So I needed the water to be below the skimmer to do the work, as I don’t want my tools in the water. So I dropped the pump in the pool, and in a little bit I’ll be able to start the repair. Stay tuned.
Attachments
Annnd done!!
Because there is very little room to work, you really don’t have room to get a drill bit in there, ( I guess you could use a right angle drill with a short bit) and you definitely want to pre drill the hole so you don’t split the plastic. What I did was use a self tapping screw the same diameter as the stainless screw I was going to use, and simply used a right angle driver on the end of my ratcheting screwdriver, and slowly bored a hole in the plastic. Once that was done, I put a bead of silicone on the top of the piece, and screwed it to the ceiling.
The one one thing I was worried about was if there was concrete sitting right on top of the skimmer throat, and luckily there wasn’t. But if there was, I picked up SS screws that were just long enough to go through the bracket, and into the plastic.
I’ll update this thread in 6 months or so, to update how it’s holding up.
Because there is very little room to work, you really don’t have room to get a drill bit in there, ( I guess you could use a right angle drill with a short bit) and you definitely want to pre drill the hole so you don’t split the plastic. What I did was use a self tapping screw the same diameter as the stainless screw I was going to use, and simply used a right angle driver on the end of my ratcheting screwdriver, and slowly bored a hole in the plastic. Once that was done, I put a bead of silicone on the top of the piece, and screwed it to the ceiling.
The one one thing I was worried about was if there was concrete sitting right on top of the skimmer throat, and luckily there wasn’t. But if there was, I picked up SS screws that were just long enough to go through the bracket, and into the plastic.
I’ll update this thread in 6 months or so, to update how it’s holding up.
