Suction in the skimmer hole not strong

[Arcpool13]

Hello - new home owner to a house that has an in-ground pool. One skimmer. When manual vacuuming, we notice that when we put the hose into the skimmer hole that there is not strong pull. I have heard that the suction should be very strong to point that you should be cautious when putting your hand near that hole. It appears that it pulls enough to vacuum the pool, but my concern is that it is not strong enough and the consequences of that.

We are currently in the SLAM process, had a slow start but hoping for the best. Thank you!

 

[Jimrahbe]

13,

If you have algae, it can quickly clog your filter, which in turn will decrease the amount of water the pump can pull from the skimmer.

What is your filter pressure?

Are you trying to vacuum when in the filter mode, or are you vacuuming to waste?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Arcpool13]

MY filter pressure is actually below the base at which it normally is (base is 12 PSI), it weirdly was at 9/10 today. Not sure if these facts matter, I posted in another thread when figuring out what I was doing wrong in the SLAM process, but hadnt vacuumed for a few days until yesterday because needed to dissolve CYA in it and I read somewhere else that you should not backwash or vacuum for a couple days after it is dissolved. And it took a while to dissolve the CYA becuase we had well below 30 CYA.

We vacuum in filter mode. Unfortunately we are rookies at this and our home already had a prescheduled pool opening with a pool company that last owner used. I tried to get as much info out of him about what part did what (we really do not want to have to use them in the future, so I am going to try to learn how to close the pool by reading up this summer), and I have learned a lot scouring TFP. Should we vacuum to waste? I know that means that it will bypass the filter, but I am not sure where the actual stuff goes if we vacuum to waste - will the stuff from the vacuum come out a different pipe?

Thanks for the help. I am also wondering as a separate question whether we should figure out if we need to replace the sand in our filter. We have no idea how long that sand has been in the filter.

 

[Jimrahbe]

13,

If you vacuum to waste the water should go to the same place it goes when you backwash.. Keep in mind this will lower the pool level, so you have to make sure to add water before the water level falls below the skimmer.

Let's see if we can get some of our other members to chime in..

Thanks,

Jim R.