Very poor flow

[Sprocket]

I just bought a house with a pool after a 2 year stint living the apartment (no maint!) life. Before that I had a pool 22 years.

The new to me pool is from the 70's. Most equipment appears fairly new. My first DE Filter. The pool hasn't been resurfaced in years.

I'm just getting a very small amount of water flowing back from the pool to the pump. Not even filling the basket at the pump. And it is inconsistent. The pressure gauge on the filter is below the setting. Prior owner had a pool service. The skimmer by the pool has 2 holes at the bottom. I've realized one is coming from the main drain and the other goes to the pump. Looking in there, there doesn't seem to be any flow from the main drain. At times there appears to be no suction at all, other times the water entering the skimmer is falling straight to the bottom. Hope that makes sense.

Not sure what to check.

 

[Texas Splash]

I'm just getting a very small amount of water flowing back from the pool to the pump. Not even filling the basket at the pump.

Almost sounds like a partial blockage perhaps. Have you tried pushing water backwards from the pump basket towards the pool? You can use a garden hose from the basket end with a rag wrapped around it to create a seal, or use a "Drain King" type bladder device.

Sometimes a suction side air leak can impact water flow to the basket, but then you would probably see some air bubbles in the return jets as well. Might not hurt to check anyways though. Pool School - Suction Side Air Leaks. Let us know if you see any improvement with either of those issues.

 

[Jimrahbe]

s,

If the water "falls" to the bottom of the skimmer, then I would have to assume that the weir door in the skimmer is stuck in the up position.. Your pump should not normally be able to suck more water out of the skimmer than goes in... The water level needs to me in about the center of your skimmer mouth..

When an old skimmer has two open holes in the bottom, as you point out, one of the holes most likely goes to the main drain. In this configuration the main drain will never work without a diverter plate. At this point, I would not worry about your main drain because it is not your problem. Many, many pools don't have operating main drains and work just fine.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sprocket]

There are intermittent bubbles at the return jets, but I believe it is from air getting sucked in when the skimmer isn't full. I was thinking clog too. Didn't think about using a garden hose. I'll give that a shot to start.

 

[Sprocket]

Tried the garden hose but didn't see any clog free up at the skimmer. I could see the flow from the hose at the skimmer.

I did start it up and the pressure gauge only showed 1 or 2 with just a trickle of water entering the pump basket. I bled the air and after about 45 seconds the pump basket filled, and the pressure went up above where it was set. Then the basket emptied, and the pressure went down. Seems a filter issue, but I'm far from an expert.

 

[Texas Splash]

So you seem to have somewhat of a surge issue, with the pump being starved for water in the process. Since you appear to have verified adequate water from the pump to the pool (no serious clog in suction line), I'm curious .. do you have a 3-way valve that will allow you to pull water only from the poolside skimmer and avoid the main drain altogether? Or does it look like both the MD and skimmer are plumbed into the one suction line? If that's the case, that's where a diverter valve would apply in the bottom of the skimmer assuming the MD is even plumbed to begin with. We're also assuming that as Jim noted above, your overall pool water level is adequate? About halfway to 3/4 up the skimmer opening with the weir door flap operating okay?

So if all of that clears okay, and you have checked for any obvious suction side leaks (i.e. pump basket lid O-Ring, etc), then inspecting your filter might be a good action to take next. There are times where a filter can be so restricted that water simply cannot get pulled-in. My system starts to act that way as well. Usually we see an increase in the filter pressure though when the filter is that clogged, and you didn't have much, but you'll find out soon enough I suppose. There's always a chance the gauge is not accurate as well.

If you've never opened a DE filter before, take your time and perhaps do some homework first here at TFP and/or YouTube. Be very careful when removing the upper manifold and grids so that you don't break anything along the way. You'll also want some DE on-hand to replenish what you clean out. Let us know what happens.

 

[Sprocket]

I'm adding water as we speak. Starting to think it may just be low. I'm still getting used to this pool. I'm in Central FL and it is already upper 80's, and frankly I haven't been paying much attention to the pool.

And the skimmer has 2 holes at the bottom. One is the line from the main drain and the other goes to the pump. Not sure how a diverter would work in this setup.

 

[Texas Splash]

Not sure how a diverter would work in this setup.

Some skimmers have 2 holes because many of them came that way, or that's what the installer had on their truck that day - even if there was no main drain. But for others, the drain came-up to the skimmer, then the other hole went to the pump. The diverter is a saucer-shaped item that slides across a hole to adjust how much water is allowed.

 

[Sprocket]

I reached down and the disk does not move. It also appears there may have been something at the top of the main drain outlet that broke off.

 

[Sprocket]

Hate to admit, but it may have just been low water. My last pool seemed to run fine with 1/2" or more above the bottom lip of the skimmer. I added a few inches of water and it seems to be working fine. Filter pressure looks good too.

I'll take an inexpensive false alarm any day. Now on to the Polaris 280!

 

[Texas Splash]

I'll take an inexpensive false alarm any day. Now on to the Polaris 280!

Hey, a victory is a victory. We'll take them any way we can get 'em.

 

[Sprocket]

Hey, a victory is a victory. We'll take them any way we can get 'em.

I hear ya! What threw me off was that the skimmer basket had plenty of water when I turned on the pump, but it wouldn't prime fully, and it didn't go dry for a while.

The Polaris is not connected. I realized yesterday that the wall fitting is much smaller than the typical UWF connector. Not sure how or if it was ever connected. I couldn't get it installed based on what's there.