Skimmer Sock or Panty Hose in Pump Basket?

[AnnaK]

The one I have looks like the first image. Sometimes it's a little tricky to get it situated just right for proper suction but we wired an extra pump switch on the deck near the skimmer and now it's just a matter of turning the pump on and off until the plate is properly in place.

[Shifty]

The first picture is what I would get.

The diameter of the vac adapter seems to be universal so hopefully it fits snug enough over the top of the skimmer basket. It rained heavily in SE PA this evening so the water is more than halfway up the skimmer.

[waterbear]

actually, vac plates are not universal, nor are skimmer diameters. You need to get the proper one for your make and model of skimmer. For example Hayward has about 7 different modes and Pentair has at least that many also, if not more.
For example:
http://www.nextag.com/skimmer-vacuum-plate/shop-html
http://www.epoolshop.com/skimmervacuumplates.aspx
http://www.thefind.com/garden/info-skimmer-vacuum-plate (this website has 5 pages of vac plates!)

[Watermom]

I'm glad that you all caught that he was talking about putting the skimmer sock on the PUMP basket and not the SKIMMER basket like I thought he was talking about! As Anna and Waterbear said, you do NOT want to put it on the pump basket!

(Good catch A and WB. Thanks!)