Skimmer basket saved me from a bigger repair this week

Started by Tom Brennan · · 2 replies
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#1
Small one but it made my week. Went out Tuesday to backwash and noticed the pressure gauge crawling up slower than usual, like it was taking its time getting there instead of the normal climb. Pulled the skimmer basket and it was packed with those little maple seed pods, the helicopter ones, way more than I'd expect this early. Cleaned it out, pressure snapped right back to where it should sit.

Point is I almost skipped that step, was going to just backwash and move on since the gauge wasn't screaming at me yet. Binder says I check baskets every Tuesday and Friday no matter what, and this is exactly why. If I'd let that go another week or two with the trees dropping the way they are, that's the kind of thing that strains a pump seal for no good reason. Twenty minutes, cost me nothing.

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#2
Only thing I'd push back on Tom is the pump seal worry, a slow climbing gauge from a stuffed basket usually isn't enough restriction to hurt the seal itself, that's more a cavitation or dry running problem if the pump loses prime entirely. What it does do is starve your flow and make the whole system work harder for less circulation, which is its own slow motion problem, poor turnover, hot spots, algae getting a foothold in the corners. So the twenty minutes was absolutely worth it, just maybe not for the reason you think.

Under the screen cage here I don't fight the maple pods but we get plenty of tree junk anyway when the wind kicks up off the bay, and I check baskets most days just out of habit since I'm already out there for my swim at sunrise. Funny how the boring binder stuff is always the thing that actually saves you money. Good luck with it.
#3
no maple pods here in phoenix but my basket fills up with palm tree junk after any wind at all, twice a week checks feel like nothing until you skip one and its packed solid in like 4 days.