What float valve do I need?

[GuRC]

Moved to this house 1.5 years ago and have been maintaining this 30+ y.o. pool ever since. My main drain doesn't have any suction and that sucks (no pun intended). All the suction is being done by the skimmer and that leads to really bad circulation. The pool wasn't designed to have this circulation flow.

In the skimmer I see one outlet (I assume it's from the main drain) and one inlet (to the pump). So, the first thing that comes to mind is a float valve so I can control how much I want pulled from the main drain, right? Well, here's where it becomes interesting. A float valve usually stays in place due to some dents in the skimmer, but mine doesn't have those:



I also can't id the skimmer, as I can't find a model number or anything inside or around it. The only thing I have is a lid that says SWIMQUIP WC27-92, but that doesn't seem to match the skimmer itself.

What's interesting is that the basket has a pin at the bottom.



So in my mind, maybe the basket is supposed to work as a float valve? That seems silly though, and honestly, I've tried rotating it in place in all possible directions and the drainage doesn't change a single bit.

Does anybody know what can I do here? Is there any float valve in the market that would kinda work here?

 

[tim5055]

Welcome to TFP!!

While I am always amazed at teh knowledge of the members here, while you wait for another answer, give the guys at Inyo Pools a call. They are great at finding obscure parts as well as what may work in a situation where a part is no longer available.

 

[Jimrahbe]

G,

Welcome to TFP... A great place to find the answers to all your "circulatory" questions...

Sorry I can't help you with the ID of the float valve, but I can tell you that thousands of pools have either no main drain, or like yours, a non-functioning Main Drain and they all work just fine..

I highly doubt that not having a Main Drain has anything to do with any water problems you are having.

We have some pretty sharp people here so I suspect one of them will have an answer for you...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

 

[kadavis]

That is a old Pac-Fab skimmer, it doesn't use a float. The basket itself is the float, if you notice on the the skimmer there is some lettering telling you to line up point on basket with different points on skimmer

 

[GuRC]

G,

Welcome to TFP... A great place to find the answers to all your "circulatory" questions...

Sorry I can't help you with the ID of the float valve, but I can tell you that thousands of pools have either no main drain, or like yours, a non-functioning Main Drain and they all work just fine..

I highly doubt that not having a Main Drain has anything to do with any water problems you are having.

We have some pretty sharp people here so I suspect one of them will have an answer for you...

Thanks for posting,

Jim R.

Thanks Jim!

That's a very interesting point of view. The reason why I mentioned the circulation problems is the main drain is on one side of the pool, the skimmer is on the opposite side, and the two jets dispense water back into the pool are basically in the middle of the drain and the skimmer. So right now the water circulates between the jets and the skimmer; and the side that has the main drain doesn't circulate. When I'm heating the water for example after letting it get very cold, the difference in temperature between the two sides is not only noticeable but very high.

That said, I didn't mean to imply I'm having water problems. Maybe it's just my lack of experience making my brain want the water to circulate equally throughout the pool for no reason.

- - - Updated - - -

That is a old Pac-Fab skimmer, it doesn't use a float. The basket itself is the float, if you notice on the the skimmer there is some lettering telling you to line up point on basket with different points on skimmer

Thanks kadavis! That's what I thought when I said "So in my mind, maybe the basket is supposed to work as a float valve? That seems silly though, and honestly, I've tried rotating it in place in all possible directions and the drainage doesn't change a single bit."

I'll look for a replacement for the Pac-Fab then.

- - - Updated - - -

Welcome to TFP!!

While I am always amazed at teh knowledge of the members here, while you wait for another answer, give the guys at Inyo Pools a call. They are great at finding obscure parts as well as what may work in a situation where a part is no longer available.

Thanks Tim. kadavis gave me some good pointers. I'll keep Inyo Pools in mind for next time!

 

[Jimrahbe]

G,

Sorry, I had assumed that you were having an algae issue of some type, which would not normally be an circulation issue.. Temperature differences are much more likely to be circulation related..

Thanks for the feedback..

Jim R.