Help -- need to replace skimmer

[quirkyone]

Thanks, Dennis. Next dumb question (Chris is short for Christine... I'm not too mechanically inclined!) -- how should I go about breaking the faceplate?

[matt4x4]

Most likely, your skimmer retained water over the winter, this froze, expanded and busted the plastic.

I would try to get some penetrating oil like WD40 or liquid wrench onto the threads, if you can see the scew locations from the outside of the skimmer, try to lube them from there and let it all sit for an hour or two.

If all else fails, breaking the faceplate as Dennis suggested should work fine, have a new properly sized skimmer, face plate, screws and gasket set handy and ready to go.
if you slide a flathead between the face plate and gasket behind it you should be able to twist lightly and crack the face plate - do this in several locations, it'll start ot break, likely at the screw holes since that's the weakest points.
I'd place a piece of electrical tape over the flat head tip, just in case it has burrs, it'll soften it up some so it's less likely to damage the liner.

Once the face plate is off, the screws will stick off the pool about 3/16th to 1/4", now you can easily grab them with pliers or channel locks and break the rust seal on them to get the skimmer off.

[quirkyone]

Thanks, everyone!

I'm only so confused because I didn't notice the cracks when I initially went to open the pool, only when I went to connect the new pump I just brought home.

I'll give it a shot with the WD40 and/or the taped flathead.

Chris

[hrsdennis]

Hi Christine, Get out all of the screws that you can and that will loosen the faceplate. Then you can go in from the skimmer opening side and snap the faceplate. You can do this without any damage to the liner.

Best of luck, Dennis