Skimmers

Skimmers

Use the right type of skimmers for your type of pool. Gunite/plaster, vinyl liner, fiberglass, above ground liner, steel walled liner, each require a specific type of skimmer with any gaskets for the proper installation. There are many models of skimmers available and the correct ones should be used for your type of pool.

A skimmer consists of the following components:

• An access cover on the deck to get into the skimmer
• Floating weir door
• Strainer basket
• Suction line to the pump
• Optional equalizer line or to main drain

A skimmer should have a strainer basket to capture large debris and prevent debris from getting stuck in the pipes. There are weighted skimmer baskets to prevent them from floating. Some folks put a rock in the skimmer basket to prevent floating. Be careful using a rock as folks have accidentally dropped the rock into the skimmer and down the pipe.

Skimmer Covers

Most skimmers come with a plastic round or square cover or you can add decorative covers that can blend in with the deck can be used. Planning and installation of decorative covers need to be made during the pool build. Most cannot be easily retrofitted to an existing pool.

Pour-A-Lid

There are decorative skimmer covers like Pour-A-Lid. The Pouralid’s are more for poured surfaces but folks have cut stone to fit them. It takes a good mason to fit a stone in the lid.

Hide Skimmer Cover

Hide Cover is a 12″ square cover is used to cover skimmer box openings and any external inspection points around your landscape. Each cover is available in a range of depths. Make sure the proper depth kit is ordered for the materials you will be using in it.

Brass Skimmer Cover

Brass covers come with bonding wires attached. Brass skimmer covers are metal and brass is a great conductor. They have to be connected to the bonding grid. If you didn't take this into account when you constructed the deck there is a problem.

Some possible solutions are that IF you water is bonded by a waterbug in the skimmer then you just attach to that. That is only a half solution to the problem if you have two skimmers. depending on how much work you want to go to and how your deck is set up, drill under the deck and fish a wire through. This can be a large amount of work and can be very frustrating.

Skimmer Weir Doors

A weir door is a part of a swimming pool skimmer that helps to control the flow of water through the skimmer. The weir door is typically located near the top of the skimmer and is attached to a hinge or pivot. The weir door is an important part of a pool's filtration system and helps to keep the water clean and clear.

Skimmers need a weir door to do their skimming function.

The weir door should swing freely with the water level anywhere along the skimmer mouth. The top of the weir door should follow the water level. The weir door should not move toward the pool itself. There should be a stop that prevents it from moving toward the pool.

A skimmer will draw in water just fine without a weir door, but it won't skim debris off the surface any where near as well.

The door is to increase the amount of water taken from the top of the water where the floating debris are. Without the door on, most of the water is taken to the filter from beneath the surface and would leave a lot of the floating stuff on your water.

The skimmer weir limits the flow coming in to maybe the top 1/2" of water. If the cross section area of the skimmer throat is 3"X12", that's .25 sq ft. Let's say the skimmer is pulling a measly 10 gallons per minute. That's 1.3 cubic feet per minute. That means the flow coming through the skimmer throat will have a velocity of 5.2 ft/minute or .087 feet per second to maintain the water level. Now reduce that opening to 1/2"X 12". That's 1/6 the area so to maintain the water level - and water will seek its own level - that water is moving six times as fast or 5.2 feet per second. That's a pretty good clip - 3.5 miles per hour - enough to overcome slight breezes and currents and pull water into the opening. Unless you have a return jet pointing straight at the skimmer throat, any surface debris being shoved along by the return flow will just go right on past the skimmer otherwise.

Skimmer Crack Repairs

Skimmer cracks are generally the result of settling/movement around and underneath. Ideally it's best to dig up the area, replace any bad items, and re-pack to prevent further movement. It can be worthwhile trying to fix a skimmer crack with epoxy and seeing if it holds.

Repair products members have used include:

• PC11 Epoxy
• Plast-aid
• Atlas Epoxy Pool Putty

Why Are There Two Holes in The Bottom of my Skimmer?

When you look in the bottom of many skimmers you see two holes. Those skimmers are manufactured with pipe connections on the bottom for two lines. One line will run to the pump suction. The other line may or may not be used.

If the second pipe is not used then you will see a white plug with a raised square screwed into the hole. If the hole is open then the main drain on the bottom of the pool is probably connected to it.

Are Main Drains Connected to the Skimmer?

In most old pools the main drain was tied into the bottom of the skimmer. For the main drain to work at all you needed a floating diverter valve (or some type of device inside the skimmer to turn on the main drain).

In most newer pools, the main drain(s) are plumbed back to the equipment pad with a valve to shut off or control the amount of flow. The skimmer(s) are also individually plumbed back to the equipment with associated valve(s).

The hole that is away from the water is normally the one that is plumbed back to the equipment pad.

The hole that is next to the water is normally connected to the main drain.

When the main drain(s) are plumbed back to the equipment pad, the skimmer hole closest to the water is normally plugged.

What is a Skimmer Float Valve?

When a skimmer is connected using both bottom holes to the pump suction and to a main drain or equalizer line a float valve (also called a diverter) is necessary over the holes to cause water flow from the main drain/equalizer pipe into the pump suction. Without the float valve the main drain/equalizer cannot operate.

A skimmer may use a round float valve or an oval float valve. They are not interchangeable and a skimmer will use one type or the other.

When there is water in the skimmer from the pool the float valve "floats" above the holes and the pump pulls water in from the skimmer basket.

If the skimmer water level drops the float valve drops down on the two holes and creates a seal that should cause the pump suction to then pull water from the other hole. This ensures the pool pump does not run dry when the pool water level and thus skimmer water level drops.

Float valves never work well and modern pools rarely use them. It is better to plumb the skimmer suction line and the main drain line to the equipment pad and combine them using a 3-way diverter valve.

How to Adjust Pool Skimmer Suction

In normal operation you should see little or no water movement if you look down at the water in the skimmer. You should not see a vortex or waterfall of water flowing through your skimmer. If you do then check that the water level is at least halfway up the skimmer mouth and the weir door is swinging freely.

If you vacuum the pool through the skimmer or use a vacuum powered pool cleaner you may want to increase pool suction. Some things to try are:

• Check that the skimmer basket is clean and has no leaves or debris in it
• If you have a Variable Speed pump you can increase the pump RPMs
• You may have one or more valves in front of your pump that can be adjusted to increase skimmer suction
• If you have a valve to balance main drain suction and skimmer suction it is best to run the skimmer 100% open the main drain about 10% open.

For more help with your pool equipment start a thread in the TFP Forum and you will find a lot of personalized help.

What To Do If You Are Missing Your Skimmer Basket

Your skimmer basket is necessary to help keep larger debris out of your filter. Its easier to clean out a basket then it is to clean a filter. And if you use skimmer socks which go inside the basket you also collect very fine dust and schmutz.

You need to measure the diameter of the little lip that the basket will sit on and the depth between the lip and the bottom of the skimmer. Take that info to your local pool store and see which basket will fit the best. If there is any info on the skimmer lid about the manufacturer of the skimmer, take that with you also.

Skimmer Basket Pops Up When Pump Turns Off

A quick fix is to use a weighted skimmer basket or put a rock in the basket to hold it down. The picture below is of a weighted skimmer basket and you can see the weight in the middle of the bottom.

Use a rock that is too large to get into the pipe. You don't want to drop the rock accidentally one day and have it end up jamming inside the pipe where you can't get at it to remove it.

It is normal for there to be a little tiny bit of backflow when the pump shuts off. It will be very small, but often enough to move the basket. The filter is presurized and that pressure will go out the intake if the pump isn't preventing it.

You may find the problem if you use skimmer socks. A skimmer sock is just enough to float the skimmer basket. A rock fixes it.

Another reason is air in the filter. Air is compressible and decompresses when the pump turns off. An oversize pump or and undersized filter can also cause problems. Use the air relief valve on your filter to remove air from the filter.

Skimmers for An Above Ground Pool

Many above ground pools do not come with skimmers. They come from the manufacturer with one or more round holes in the side of the liner which connect a hose to the pump suction. With this type of suction system on an above ground pool debris, such as leaves and insects, from the surface of the pool water is not automatically cleaned as the pump runs.

Intex Skimmer Install shows how a skimmer is installed. Make sure you buy a skimmer for an above ground pool like the Hayward SP1091LX. A skimmer for an above ground pool comes with gaskets to seal the hole you will be cutting in the liner.

Should You Put Chlorine Tablets in the Skimmer Basket?

The problems with Trichlor tablets are primarily when the pump is not running. For tablets in a skimmer, when the pump is off they continue to slowly dissolve and if the local acidity gets to the copper in the heat exchanger in the gas heater or to the pump seals, then there can be serious problems. We have quite a few reports of people with copper and associated stains in their pool from doing this so even if the copper pipes didn't get to the point of leaking they can still cause problems.

The advice not to put Trichlor tablets in the skimmer is simple and general. It's similar to advice for the amount of chlorine relative to CYA to prevent algae. Sure, some pools may be poor enough in algae nutrients to not need as high a chlorine level, but it's far simpler and safer to set the limit so that it works in thousands upon thousands of pools regardless of algae nutrient level. However, it's your pool and all we can do is provide information. If you keep the pump running until the tablets dissolve or if you remove them when the pump is off then you minimize the chance of damage.

If you want to use Trichlor tablets use a floating dispenser. Although tie the dispenser so it cannot get near any stainless steel in your pool.

Should You Put Stabilizer in the Skimmer Basket?

The instructions on most packages of stabilizer/CYA say to add it to the skimmer. This can cause the skimmer line to get clogged with the stabilizer as on this thread. If the stabilizer gets through your pipes it can clog your filter, reduce your water flow, and raise your filter pressure. The problems of undissolved stabilizer in your filter depends on your filter type - sand, cartridge, or DE.

Solid/granular CYA should be placed in a sock and the sock put in the skimmer basket or suspended in front of a pool return. If suspending near a return jet, ensure the sock cannot rest against the pool surface since the granules are acidic and could potentially discolor the surface. After adding CYA you should leave the pump running for 24 hours and not backwash/clean the filter for a week. After soaking for about 30 minutes, squeezing the sock periodically will help it to dissolve faster.

Should a Piece of Copper be put in a Skimmer to Control Algae?

Just dropping a copper pipe in the pool is not going to kill algae. There either needs to be some sort of mechanism that releases copper from its solid state and puts it into solution in the pool, such as electrical current in a copper ionizer, liquefied copper in copper algaecide, or super aggressive low pH water that destroys copper (and other things you don't want destroyed) in heat exchangers or old copper plumbing.

Copper in the water can cause unsightly stains that are difficult (sometimes impossible) to remove, which is why we never recommend the use of copper. While copper can help slow down algae growth, chlorine alone is sufficient if you maintain an appropriate Free Chlorine level. Simply putting a piece of solid copper in the skimmer does not give you any meaningful control over the copper level in the water.

For more read Copper in Pool Water

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