weir door needed and is vortex in skimmer good or bad?

I can't get a picture of the inside without draining a lot of water. Lots of rain today. Will try to get a picture of the inside later.

Here is a picture of the pool side of the opening. Upside down since I was standing above, not in the pool.

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I see a sticker that says do not pull pins until weir is positioned correctly, but that is all the instructions it came with.

There are two black rubber plus on the ends near where the 2 pins are.

There is also a piece of styrofoam in the door. I assume I need to trash it because it would disintegrate in the pool.

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Leave the styrofoam in there thats what props it up when water isn't flowing in to hold all the junk in there. Put it in position from the inside, styrofoam facing into the skimmer and when its in place pull out the pins.

If you are confused, just place it there and try to imagine how it would work.
 
I have 2 skimmers, and one of the skimmers does not have a wier door so as to accomodate the kreepy cleaner that is plugged into it. When the water would get too low or the kreepy came unplugged it would always get the vortex and start sucking air. Then this winter we acquired a rescue dog that is half lab and half pit and lives in the pool. I noticed after a week or so that the water was low and no sucking of air noise were being made and went too investigate it. I found one of the dogs balls in there, it worked great, I wish I would have thought of that 17 years ago. So if you are getting a vortex in your skimmer and can't get the proper door for it just put a tennis ball in the skimmer and no more vortex. Good luck.
 
A couple generic notes:

-the lower your water is [and of course it's above the level of the skimmer entry way], the faster the water flows into the skimmer. The doors buoyancy, via the water level, is what holds it up. So higher the water, the higher the door and less potential water flow...the opposite holds true.

-the skimmer plumbed closest to the equipment pad is usually the one w the greatest pull.

-depending on how your pool circulatory system was built [# if drains, # of skimmers], there are usually manually driven valves that determine the vol of water which returns to the pump via the suction side [skimmers or main drains - auxiliary drains for other water features are different, but can have some impact] that will determine your pull to the skimmers. if your pull is set more to the drains, your water is real high and your skimmer is the farthest one to the equipment pad, you are likely to see the least amt of water pulled into the skimmer - conversely if all the return water is switched to the skimmers, the water is low, then you are going to see the greatest level of pull and more to the closest skimmer to the equipment pad...there are some variations, but this is pretty much the rule.

Finally, when kids [or adults] jump into a pool right by a skimmer, the huge wave action can sometimes causes a weir door to either dislodge or get stuck. Also, if you have some real heavy rains that washes debris into your pool thus the skimmer doors will be up high, sometimes a small piece of debris can become lodged in the hole where the weir pins are inserted, like a very small piece of mulch. If in an upward position, and the pump comes on, and the water return is mainly set for the skimmers, you can starve the pump via cavitation... always a good idea to check the weir doors.

good luck, tstex
 
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The weir is a little short. There is a 1" gap at the top, but it is working well.

And I didn't have to pay anyone.....thanks to all of you and this forum!

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Tstex,
I lowered the level of water thanks to your advice. I always kept the water level high so the pump always had water. Plus the weir door was gone.

Now I have a whirlpool though with the water lower.
 

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Yes, a vortex sucks air into the plumbing system. If you suck too much air in you will lose prime on the pump 1/2 to 2/3 up the skimmer opening is usually a good water level for most pools.

The height of the weir is fine, you don't want it to get stuck on the top of the skimmer opening. It should move freely when the pump is on.
 
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