Water won't go through skimmer

[poolcat]

We inherited an old pool but bought a new skimmer and installed it because it was cracked. The water was sucked through from the pool but only at a slow rate (compared to the other skimmer). The new one is furthest from the pump. Yesterday water stopped being pumped through the new skimmer. Is this likely to be a valve problem in the skimmer line or is something blocked in the pipe or is there a leak in the pipe? The skimmer doesn't have any attachment except the pipe that goes straight to the pump. We are complete novices.

[Poconos]

Welcome to the forum.
I gather by your comment 'the new one is furthest from the pump' that there are two skimmers. If it was a cracked pipe you would probably be sucking air and see bubbles in the pump bastet and returns. Could be a valve setting issue or a blocked line, or, simply a matter of the additional length of pipe adding flow resistance. Are there valves in the return lines somewhere? If so you should be able to balance the skimmer flows by partially closing the one for the closest skimmer. You can also try blocking the skimmer closest to the pump and see what happens to the flow in the other one.
Al

[poolcat]

Welcome to the forum.
I gather by your comment 'the new one is furthest from the pump' that there are two skimmers. If it was a cracked pipe you would probably be sucking air and see bubbles in the pump bastet and returns. Could be a valve setting issue or a blocked line, or, simply a matter of the additional length of pipe adding flow resistance. Are there valves in the return lines somewhere? If so you should be able to balance the skimmer flows by partially closing the one for the closest skimmer. You can also try blocking the skimmer closest to the pump and see what happens to the flow in the other one.
Al

If I close the valve to the 'good' one they both don't work. The 'bad' one is the furthest away from the pump. Strangely enough this morning water began to move through it slowly through the 'bad' one but by lunchtime it stopped again. Removing the valve is going to be tricky as the person had glued it in to the pipe. I'm also wondering if the line is blocked from the skiimer to the valve? We inherited old pipes.

[Poconos]

Could very well be something got jammed in the pipe. There is normally a skimmer basket in place to prevent this from happening but if the prior owner had the basket out for some reason while the pump was running something could have gotten sucked in. Before you cut pipes is there any way you could rig a garden hose to some port and route the water backwards to the problem skimmer? If you do cut the pipe it's easy. When I need temporary adapters to do this sort of thing I don't even bother to glue PVC together. I connect the pieces and use cheap electrical tape over the joints. FYI a PVC 3/4" NPT male threaded adapter is close thread match to a standard female garden hose connector. Have to add another washer to the hose because it won't thread in all the way but it works for me. PVC is wonderful and cheap. You can mate almost anything to anything.
Al