Vertex Skimmer club

Well, I ended up making my platform out of pvc and eggcrate with neoprene rubber pad, now I am sitting at exactly 6" of water....i have the skimmer running over the weekend but no foam, just looks like boiling water. I have the wedge pipe a little more than half open because I feel like maybe the rubber pad or the new stand is affecting the skimmer and I am afraid it will kick in and overflow. Maybe I need to close that pipe down alot now because I raised it from 9" to 6" of water??
 
reefguard said:
Ward, any updates?
Click to expand...

Yeaaah man.

Start with the negative first: When I rotated the volute or the output of the pump 180 degress I may or may have not seated the O ring properly. It started making a squirming noise this morning so I unplugged it before I went to work. Called the compnay I bought it from and they said to check the O ring. I took it apart and reseated it. It has been fine for a couple hours now..we will see.

The positive is that the performance has been great. The production in even a couple of days has been outstanding. The foam head is much more dense and dark. The only time the head comes down is when I feed oily foods. ( Remember, I still have it adjusted real conservatively ). So with all that in mind it has been a good upgrade and I would do it all over again. Noise is way down and any remaining noise is simply from the collection cup lid.
 
xtra-salty said:
Well, I ended up making my platform out of pvc and eggcrate with neoprene rubber pad, now I am sitting at exactly 6" of water....i have the skimmer running over the weekend but no foam, just looks like boiling water. I have the wedge pipe a little more than half open because I feel like maybe the rubber pad or the new stand is affecting the skimmer and I am afraid it will kick in and overflow. Maybe I need to close that pipe down alot now because I raised it from 9" to 6" of water??
Click to expand...

Probably. When I went from nine to six it was a whole new adjustment scenario.
 
O-Ring

O-Ring

Ward1 said:
Yeaaah man.

Start with the negative first: When I rotated the volute or the output of the pump 180 degress I may or may have not seated the O ring properly. It started making a squirming noise this morning so I unplugged it before I went to work. Called the compnay I bought it from and they said to check the O ring. I took it apart and reseated it. It has been fine for a couple hours now..we will see.

The positive is that the performance has been great. The production in even a couple of days has been outstanding. The foam head is much more dense and dark. The only time the head comes down is when I feed oily foods. ( Remember, I still have it adjusted real conservatively ). So with all that in mind it has been a good upgrade and I would do it all over again. Noise is way down and any remaining noise is simply from the collection cup lid.
Click to expand...

Ah, I should have warned you about that as i had the same issue in the begining and thought the pump was faulty! But it has been fine since reseating the o-ring.
Bill:wavehand:
 
Thanks poolkeeper1!!!

Thanks poolkeeper1!!!

After buying the IN180 and not reading this thread, I was not happy with the performance of this skimmer!! Once I read the thread and replaced the original pump with the BB3000s I couldn't be happier....well maybe not spending close to $500 for a skimmer now. The swap was simple and very well laid out by poolkeeper1. If you are not happy with the performance of your IN180 as is, just follow poolkeeper1's instructions and waalaa...great performing skimmer.
 
delphijoel said:
After buying the IN180 and not reading this thread, I was not happy with the performance of this skimmer!! Once I read the thread and replaced the original pump with the BB3000s I couldn't be happier....well maybe not spending close to $500 for a skimmer now. The swap was simple and very well laid out by poolkeeper1. If you are not happy with the performance of your IN180 as is, just follow poolkeeper1's instructions and waalaa...great performing skimmer.
Click to expand...

:) Thanks, Glad it helped you.
Bill:beer:
 
delphijoel said:
After buying the IN180 and not reading this thread, I was not happy with the performance of this skimmer!! Once I read the thread and replaced the original pump with the BB3000s I couldn't be happier....well maybe not spending close to $500 for a skimmer now. The swap was simple and very well laid out by poolkeeper1. If you are not happy with the performance of your IN180 as is, just follow poolkeeper1's instructions and waalaa...great performing skimmer.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the guy gives some good advice
 
BB3000 on Vertex in280

BB3000 on Vertex in280

Here's a shot at some pics for ya..
 

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Cool, Thanks Ward. So, how much improvement did you see when you switched to BB3000? Did you see an obvious improvement as far as skimmer production?
 
reefguard said:
Cool, Thanks Ward. So, how much improvement did you see when you switched to BB3000? Did you see an obvious improvement as far as skimmer production?
Click to expand...

No problem. I have seen better production for sure. I don't know if it's broken in yet but I notice a denser head that is constant unless I feed oily food. It does produce more skim that is darker in color than it used to be. Break in period is supposed to be two weeks but it may already be there. Pump is quiter too.
 
At two weeks you are not fully broke in yet, It will get better and when the stink gags you it will be broke in fully. Plus the axel grease on the neck will be very thick like peanut butter LOL. All around It's a great swap IMO.
Bill
 
Since I posted pictures of my In180 w/ BB3000 the production on that thing has just gotten better and better so I can imagine it is still breaking in at 2 weeks. So far so good
 
I got the Gen 3 Vertex Internal Pinwheel Skimmer 180 today.

Have a question. Does it take a few hours for the foam to start building up in the bottom?
 
So far

So far

Pump change still going well. I was reading something last night that triggered a thought. I changed the pvc elbow going in to the wedge pipe to fit the larger BB air line. One thing I never thought to do was to enlarge the hole in the wedge pipe cap to accomodate for the larger air draw on the new pipe. I drilled it out and wow did it change my settings. The skimmer started to overflow instantly and had to be readjusted. It is now producing even more skimmate! Don't know how I missed that.
 
Plain sight

Plain sight

Ward1 said:
Pump change still going well. I was reading something last night that triggered a thought. I changed the pvc elbow going in to the wedge pipe to fit the larger BB air line. One thing I never thought to do was to enlarge the hole in the wedge pipe cap to accomodate for the larger air draw on the new pipe. I drilled it out and wow did it change my settings. The skimmer started to overflow instantly and had to be readjusted. It is now producing even more skimmate! Don't know how I missed that.
Click to expand...

I just run mine wide open, The noise is very minimal and don't bother me a bit. Plus since starting Eco-Bak my skimmer has trippled the amount of skimate produced. It's amazing...
Bill:dance:
 
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