New Elite INT-220 9" super cone not drawing air at first.

TexasTodd · Nov 14, 2020

Hi, I just hooked this brand new skimmer up today. For the first 20 minutes it was hardly drawing any air. I checked lines weren't kinked, i blew threw lines to make sure. I raised it up and down several times, turned it on and off several times and messed with the pivot valve pipe...nothing would work.
I turned it on and off a few more times and then all of a sudden it started working. I have the water depth right at 8", the pump on #4 and the twist valve on about 2. Seems to be working well now.
BUT, how do I know it's drawing the air it should after such a weird startup.
This is my fourth RO skimmer among many others over the years so I don't think I missed something or connected incorrectly etc.

TexasTodd · Nov 15, 2020

How far in should the outlet of the pump go into the skimmer body? Last night I pushed it in a bit more (it was basically all the way in) and the bubble quantity dropped way down again, so I wiggled it out a bit and the bubbles when up much better. I don't know if unrelated as it seems it wouldn't matter.
Skimmer is working now but still seems like it should be pushing more air.....lots of bubbles are coming out of the skimmer I think due to how much water the pump is pushing. Seems it would less turbulent inside the skimmer with less water flow / more air mixed in.

The other thing I noticed a couple of times when it wasn't drawing air was the air silencer riser was full of pressurized water that stopped when if finally started drawing air.

Thanks,
Todd