I have been helping out a friend of my wife get her pool open this year. She has an 24' round above ground pool. Got it uncovered, cleaned and water balanced but have noticed that every time I remove the skimmer basket, the pump almost sucks the skimmer dry because of the swirling water. Even when vacuuming, I have to remove the hose to let the pump prime itself again. She has informed the that the pump and filter are new, replaced end of last season by a friend of a friends mechanic. He installed a Meteor 22" sand filter with what appears to be a 1.5 HP Pentair pump. Both units appear to be matched. There is One Skimmer and One return and all pipes are 1 1/2" schedule 40. This size pump seems way oversized to me, does it to anyone else? The pressure coming out of the return would probably knock a kid off their feet.
Is there anything that can be done to prevent the pump from loosing prime and/or reduce the suction?

Dave