Skimmer trouble

[digidana]

well, our power was off for about 4 hours. when it came back on, richard tried to get the skimmer going again, but is having trouble. for some reason, where its supposed to be sucking in the air, its blowing water. any suggestions? i'm not real mechanical-minded, i just like to play with the fishies, so i'm clueless.

 

[ct_vol]

Probably too much water pressure to draw air since you have the tank upstairs and the sump and whatnot downstairs... I would try turning off the return pump or feed pump, then starting the skimmer, wait till it draws air, if it doesn't, give the line a little blow to get it primed, then turn back on the return pump...

 

[cee]

If designed properly, the head pressure that the return pump sees is not the same as the head pressure the skimmer sees regardless of whether it is recirculating or fed from the sump. This is because the skimmer is not "sealed". I can't envision a scenario where the skimmer would see the same head pressure that the return sees.

If the output of the skimmer pump is tangential, it is possible that the pump is spinning backwards and hence not drawing air through the venturi the way it is designed. Have you tried restarting the pump repeatedly to see if the problem goes away once the impeller is spinning in the correct direction. Also, you might try cleaning the venturi to make sure it is not partially plugged due to CaCO3 deposits. Just some ideas, but not knowing your setup or the skimmer you're using, I can't pinpoint the problem.

Dave