Floater valve in skimmer keeps sticking shut

[Martin Beck]

My skimmer has 2 pipes descending from bottom - vacuum line and equalizer. Above the lines at the bottom of the skimmer, under the basket, is a removable “floater valve” assembly consisting of a hockey-puck sized float contained in a cage above a valve hole. This allows water to flow through the hole but of the water level drops, the puck doesn’t float and drops to seal the valve, presumably to keep air from entering the lines.

My problem is that very often when cycling pump on/off or switching pump to spa instead of pool, the float valve gets stuck sealing the hole, even when the water level is high. I replaced the whole floater valve assembly 6 months ago, so it’s still quite new.

Any ideas? When I clean the basket I can reach in to the skimmer and gently lift up on on the puck and it pops up to the top of the cage and water starts to flow and work fine.

When the valve is stuck like this the skimmer doesn’t skim, obviously, and unless I check the valve daily I can have long periods with the skimmer not operational.

 

[proavia]

Possibly the pool water level is too low, allowing the water in the skimmer to get too low and activating the float. With pump running, is water in skimmer swirling (like when flushing a toilet)?

 

[Richard320]

Sounds like you're just moving too much water too fast.

You don't absolutely need the diverter --- you'll just lose any main drain suction without it. Plenty of people with BIG aboveground pools do fine without a bottom drain and there are quite a few inground pools that developed leaks and have the drain plugged off. I discovered that even on 100% drain, it doesn't do a very good job pulling debris. I just like it because I think it helps with the temperature stratification. If you have kids, let them get in five minutes ahead of you and they'll get the water mixed.