Weir question

[PaPoolNewB]

Recently moved in and am renting. Pool was in very bad shape and not used in a few seasons at least. Got everything up and running however the Skimmer Weir door is missing. I am not sure the make of the skimmer but had a hard time figuring out what Weir would work to replace it. I bought this to keep out large debris just for the meantime.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0032JSPVW/ref=oh_details_o04_s01_i04

I notice that I am not getting much of anything inside of my skimmer basket. I have to do a lot of Skimming manually instead. So I am starting to think that perhaps the door somehow draws the debris better. Just really want to know if the skimmer can function properly without the Weir in place. Whoever set up this pool also place the return jet relatively close to the Skimmer opening. I would say between 1-2 feet away and about 3 inches lower than the Skimmer unit itself. The jet is very strong and I am wondering if that may be causing the debris to get caught in the jet stream instead of getting sucked into the Skimmer.

Any info on this would be appreciated. I do not mind manually skimming but would be nice if some of the small stuff would at least go into the basket and save me some work. Look forward to replies, thanks!

[Watermom]

Without a weir door, any time the pump is turned off, any debris that has been collected in the skimmer basket will float out. The door itself does not draw anything in while the pump is operating. If you don't have a weir door on the skimmer, make sure your dump the basket before you turn off the pump.

I have a new pool and my return jet is also much closer to the skimmer than it was on my old pool. Make sure that your return jet eyeball is aimed as far towards the perimeter of the pool away from the skimmer as possible. That will help to create a circular motion of the water and direct floating debris more towards the skimmer. Having said all that, the bottom line is that you are always going to have to do some hand-skimming weir door or not. It is simply not possible for all floating debris to make it into the skimmer.

(In my pool, if I have a lot of floating debris, I aim the eyeball towards the side so that it creates a slight rippling of the water to help move stuff towards the skimmer. However, if there is not much stuff on top of the water, I typically still aim the eyeball towards the side to still get that circular water movement but I aim the jet more downward.)

[PaPoolNewB]

Thank you,

That is what I actually have been doing. The Filter system seems to have really good pressure and the jet is quite powerful. I have it angled towards the side of the pool opposite the Weir as much possible and slightly towards surface to cause just a little aeration. PH has been steady at 7.4 since I opened pool last week so thinking that maybe is what is keeping it there. My only concern was whether or not the missing Weir would affect pool performance. Seems it does not, so I will follow your advice and empty basket each time Pump shuts down and I am around. I have it on a Timer currently running 2.5 hours on and 3.5 hours off repeatedly for a total of 10 hours run time so can not be there to empty it each time. Thanks for your quick reply.

Lou

[mas985]

The weir door also helps to increase the surface velocity of the water by reducing the volume going over the lip of the weir door so a skimmer with a weir door will likely capture more surface debris than one without a weir door.

[PaPoolNewB]

Figures of course it is better to have it then not to.

Guess if it was not an integral component they would not bother including them with every skimmer basically. I will try to see if I can figure out a replacement. The whole skimmer assembly is shot. All kinds of pipe dope and no throttling capability but it is there and I was trying to get away with spending as little as possible to get someone else's pool up and running.

Owner of property could care less and won't reimburse me for anything towards the pool. Already have purchased a new pump and filter, Skimmer, Brush, Telescoping pole, Leaf Rake, etc.. Never mind the countless hours draining, scrubbing and researching to get it cleaned up and functioning.

Is worth it though to at least be able to use it now and enjoy it for at least hopefully a month or so. Hoping for warm weather until end of October but will be only me in the pool anyway. Do not have a Solar Cover or heating system of any type so no one will want to go in. Is only 76 degrees now and I am fine with it but everyone else has a hard time so imagine only will get worse lol. Anyway, will look into universal Weirs and hope I can find something that will fit. When mounting does the hinge of the Weir need to be on the top or bottom of opening? I have seen them both ways but do think it is better for it to hinge at the bottom.

Thanks again all, sorry for the venting, was one of those days.

[JimK]

So that's what a "weir" is!:D

Sorry for the interuption, Ben will know what I'm talking about.;)

[mas985]

All the skimmers I have seen have the weir hinge on the bottom. I don't think it would work very well having the hinge on the top.