Unsure on replacement skimmer plate

[Nidstang]

Hi all. I run a Hayward Navigator cleaner which is permanently connected to the vacuum plate. But the existing vacuum plate is a Kreepy Crawly Autoskim vacuum plate, and the hose is connected to a Kreepy Crawly Autoskim valve.

The vacuum plate has like an 'air release valve' built in, which presumably prevents the vacuum plate lifting when the pump shuts off (the previous owners kept rocks on top of the skimmer plate because this can still happen). The Autoskim valve is supposed to allow excess vacuum to skim the pool simultaneously, but in my case it works well as a 'suction bypass' when the Navigator gets blocked, which does happen fairly often with long thin leaves I get in there. It appears the Autoclear Chlorinator system I have doesn't shut down the pump when there is no flow, it only sounds an alarm and turns off the chlorinator cell, so the Autoskim valve is allowing flow to continure through the pump.

Buying a Hayward skim plate or similar will remove the 'air release' and 'suction bypass' devices. I don't know if they are required or not or what I need. I'd be concerned when the cleaner blocks that there will be no flow through the pump for long periods. Any advice is appreciated, thanks.

 

[mgtfp]

I'm with you there I like the extra safety of the auto skimmer valve in a setup with only one suction option through the skimmer. I also like the air release valve. And I like that the auto skimmer actually does pull some dirt into the skimmer box that gets into the basket when I remove the skimmer plate.

I am still using the old Kreepy Krauly skimmer plate with auto skimmer valve that the previous owner had left with my Poolvergnügen "The Pool Cleaner" that I replaced the noisy Kreepy Krauly with. I have added a 90° elbow to the auto skimmer valve, and replaced the previous owner's brick with one of these:

Vacuum Plate Clamp | Kreepy Krauly

Vaccum plate clamp for retaining your custom Kreepy Krauly vacuum plate.

www.kreepykrauly.com.au

Works fine for me. In a real no-flow situation my SWG would eventually shut down the pump, not sure if yours has that feature.

The Poolvergnügen came with a flow regulator to adjust the cleaner's speed by letting some water in from the side. Not sure if that would actually be sufficient to get enough water to the pump should the the cleaner line be blocked, the auto skimmer valve would open up a bit more in that scenario, I think.

Newer pools now have dedicated suction ports, so you can keep skimming while the cleaner runs, which also ensures flow should the cleaner swallow your kids' pool toys.

Another option is to get a robot to be independent from the skimmer.