Skimmers swimming pool
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Skimmers are found in
essentially every type of swimming pool whether it is gunite, vinyl-lined,
fiber-glass or above ground. Depending on the size of your pool, you could have
1, 2, or even more skimmers installed.
The skimmer in yourpool is the thing that looks like a mini mouth in the side of your pool, near
the top of the water.
Bonus tip: You should
keep your water level about halfway up the mouth of the skimmer. This helps it
accomplish its primary goal…
Making your skimmer
one of two suction lines within your pool’s circulation system. The other is
the main drain that resides at the deepest point of your swimming pool to help
circulate deeper water and catch debris that has sunk to the bottom.
Pool skimmers come in
many different sizes and vary in their plumbing however a few parts remain
regardless of the make or model.
The lid covers the top
opening and is the most visible part of the skimmer. Having a lid is important
as it prevents large debris from outside of the pool from dropping into the
circulation system. Oh, and keeps you from spraining an ankle on your next
cannon ball run.
The mouth is the
opening in the side of the pool we talked about earlier. This is the main opening
for sucking in water and debris that resides near the top of the pool. The size
of the skimmer mouth will dictate how large of debris it can pull in.
The weir is the little
flap just inside the skimmer’s mouth that bounces back and forth with the flow
of the water. The weir’s purpose is to prevent debris that has been sucked into
the skimmer from escaping. It becomes particularly important if you slack on
skimming floating debris from the surface of your pool, allowing the skimmer
basket to fill up. Speaking of skimmer baskets…
The final universal
feature of your skimmer is the all-important basket. The basket is the magic
that keeps large debris such as leaves, twigs, and even bugs from being pulled
in by your pump and clogging up the filter.
For my visual learners here is a solid diagram of a pool skimmer:
For my visual learners here is a solid diagram of a pool skimmer:
One last thing every
pool skimmer will have (otherwise it would be useless) is plumbing for the
water to travel through to reach the filter and ultimately be returned to the
pool. As I mentioned earlier, plumbing is something that can vary from skimmer
to skimmer.
The main types of
skimmer plumbing can be classified as either common, combination, or equalizer.
Skimmers with common
plumbing incorporate a single pipe line that flows toward the pump and filter.
Most skimmers come with two holes at their bottom, in common plumbing the
second hole is simply plugged up to prevent flow.
That second hole is
used by the last two types of skimmer plumbing, albeit for slightly different
purposes.
In combination
plumbing, the second hole is typically used to connect to the main drain
suction line. This can reduce the amount of piping required to complete the
pool’s circulation system. With this setup you can control the flow of water
coming up from the main drain by using a diverter, which can either be a valve
or a simple flap that covers the plumbing lines opening. This valve can be
useful in increasing the main drain’s suction for pulling in sunken debris.
