Skimmer suction

[rpoldervaart]

How much suction should I see at the skimmers? I have two, with a 2hp pentair whisperflow pump. I have this new problem with unknown bugs (http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthr...?t=1376&page=2) that I posted over in the critters forum. These bugs are tiny and they float on top of the water in the skimmer. They don't seem to get sucked down. Should the skimmer suction be sufficient enough to suck anything down that's floating on top? I almost expect to see a whirl pool in there, but I don't see anything that dramatic.

Right now, I have the main drains turned off, so all suction is coming from the two skimmers. Btw, my pool is full right now as we just had a week's worth of rain. But it has drained through the overflow so it's right at max full.

On normal days, with even the slightest wind, debris can float by the skimmer without getting pulled in. Should I be seeing a strong current going into the skimmer, or is that wishful thinking?

Also, I was thinking about downsizing my pump, or getting a 2-speed, because of high electric bills. But my assumption now is that that would decrease my skimmer suction even more.

Thanks,
Robert

[mkelley]

Robert,

I'm no expert, but when my pool is full (max full as you describe) my skimmer doesn't work at all. Or, at least it doesn't work to skim the surface (and thus bugs, etc. stay right on it). It needs to be at least 1/2 inch or more down in order for my skimmer to work.

For me (the non-expert) this makes sense, as the water needs to just come slightly over the top of the floating gate and when the water is too full there is no gate clearance (thus the water that is sucked into the skimmer is coming from underneath the surface). You can see this by swimming up to your skimmer and watching to see if the surface is clearing the opening.

So when we get rain and the skimmer isn't working I just drain the pool an inch or so and voila! -- suddenly the skimmer starts working again and the surface becomes remarkably clean. Like I said, I'm no expert so for the longest time I couldn't figure out why the top of the pool was so dirty (living in Florida we get so much rain at times the pool is always at max full unless I empty some manually). In about 30 minutes with the pool being lower I get a clean surface.