Adding gate valve to Vertex Skimmer

[Protodad]

Hey all, quick question, I have a Vertex Omega 150 and while it’s a beast, it’s pretty hard to tune. I have a few gate valves laying around and was wondering if I can replace the riser tube for the skimmer with a gate valve.

The skimmer is a pretty old school design with a simple upright that you turn to adjust the flow in the skimmer. Unfortunately as it’s aged, keeping that riser in place is a bit of a chore. My question is twofold.

1) Can I replace the riser tube with a gate valve?

2) Do I have to keep a riser post gate valve or can I eliminate that part entirely? As the water exits the Tee below where the gate valve would be placed, I would like to eliminate the entire riser if possible.

 

[shwareefer]

1) yes
2) no

The riser tube is just there because you need something to turn that wont get blown off by the back pressure since it's just a simple loose fitting piece without seals or housing. A gate valve doesn't have that problem since it's a robust fixture. It should work exactly the same except with fine control.

 

[Protodad]

Ok. So to be clear. On the side exit of the skimmer, it’s going to be a tee with one side open to the air (underwater) and the other going to a gate valve. The other side of the gate valve is open air.

(I’ll try to get a photo mocking this up)

 

[shwareefer]

If there's an open T before the gate, isn't closing the gate just going to send water through the open T? That won't help you if that's the case. The entire T/riser has to be replaced with a straight pipe with all water passing through the gate valve to work correctly.