Skimmers Not Working

[kroth954]

Hi All, I noticed late last week that one of my two skimmers wasn’t generating any suction. The water was still in the basket without any sort of action taking place. The other side skimmer was still functioning fine.

I just got back from being away for a few days and now the other skimmer also isn’t working. I tried backwashing but without any suction in the skimmers, there’s barely anything coming out through my backwash pipe.

Any ideas for troubleshooting the issue? Most common thing I’m reading would lead me to believe there’s a clog somewhere, but I don’t know how to go about identifying and subsequently clearing it if that is the case.

I’m also unsure if I should still be running my filter while the skimmers aren’t functioning or if that will do damage to the filter since it doesn’t seem to be cycling any water through.

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Jimrahbe]

K,

Do you skimmers have weir doors?
Do you have a single speed pump or a VS pump?
When you feel the water coming back to the pool, does it feel ok or is the flow weak?
What happens if you put your Filter into the by-pass or recirculate mode?
Post some pics of your equipment pad.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Did the pressure in your filter rise indicating that it's clogged? You might have invisible algae that is clogging it up and if that's the case you're headed for trouble, mister. what are your test readings?

 

[kroth954]

K,

Do you skimmers have weir doors?
Do you have a single speed pump or a VS pump?
When you feel the water coming back to the pool, does it feel ok or is the flow weak?
What happens if you put your Filter into the by-pass or recirculate mode?
Post some pics of your equipment pad.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,

Thanks so much for the quick response. See attached for a few pics of the setup. I believe I have a variable speed pump. It’s currently set to a speed of 3450. I’ve never adjusted that since moving in last year.

There is nothing coming through the return jets when running the system and I can look at the little screen on the pump and don’t see any water flowing through there.

I switched to recirculate but still nothing flowing through the return jets.

Look forward to your guidance! I was hoping to salvage one more good weekend before shutting it for the season if there’s a good DIY fix.

Thanks again!

 

[TinFoilHat]

While closed for the season you need to put proper electric supply lines into the two pumps and remove whatever is sticking out from the left side of the panel.

 

[Jimrahbe]

K,

The first thing I would do is shut the system off and remove the pump lid.. Make sure the basket is clean and then remove the O-Ring from the lid and lube it with pool lube. Make sure the mating surface is clean and then reinstall the pump lid.

Move the Intake valve (in front of the pump) to select just one of the two input pipes.. Turn the pump on and see if it will prime and run.. If not, switch the Intake valve to select only the other pipe and try it again.

Let us know what you find.. I suspect that one of the two pipe has an air leak and your pump is just sucking air..

It could be that both lines are clogged, but that would not be my first guess.

If the above does not help, then you could take the top of the Intake valve off and then use a 'Drain King' to force water back from the Intake valve and into each skimmer, one at a time.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[kroth954]

K,

The first thing I would do is shut the system off and remove the pump lid.. Make sure the basket is clean and then remove the O-Ring from the lid and lube it with pool lube. Make sure the mating surface is clean and then reinstall the pump lid.

Move the Intake valve (in front of the pump) to select just one of the two input pipes.. Turn the pump on and see if it will prime and run.. If not, switch the Intake valve to select only the other pipe and try it again.

Let us know what you find.. I suspect that one of the two pipe has an air leak and your pump is just sucking air..

It could be that both lines are clogged, but that would not be my first guess.

If the above does not help, then you could take the top of the Intake valve off and then use a 'Drain King' to force water back from the Intake valve and into each skimmer, one at a time.

Thanks,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim. Should I be using a special tool to remove the lid from the filter? I see the arrows with the direction that I should be turning to open, but I was giving it a good amount of force and it wasn’t budging. I could go harder but im afraid of breaking something so just wanted to make sure first.

As for the intake valve, I tried each one independently and same result. I attached a video so you can notice the slight sputtering when the filter is starting up, it sounds like it’s struggling a bit to get rolling before it finally kicks in, but still no water flowing through. Let me know if this helps at all.

That next step you suggested might be a bit above my pay grade so I may have to get the pool guy out here but I’ll wait for your response first.

 

[PoolStored]

Should I be using a special tool to remove the lid from the filter?

Nope, quick bump by the base of your hand, or rubber mallet. Counterclockwise. To be clear, we are talking about the pump, not the filter.

It may be that your MPV is broken. The pin sticking out on the left is not correct...which may have your MPV in the wrong position, causing the blockage.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Should I be using a special tool to remove the lid from the filter?

Remove the lid from the pump, not the filter...

I would also follow up on PoolStored's idea about the MPV on your filter being not correctly positioned..

Thanks,

Jim R.