Hey all. I have needle wheel skimmer with a venturi nozzle. I turned it off a few days ago to clean the needle wheel and the in-tank screen. When i turned it back on, i noticed it was sucking like 1/3 to 1/4 of the air it was before. I dumped a bunch of fresh RO/DI water down the venturi line to no avail. I also checked and made sure the air hose wasn't pinched.

What's the deal?

I had a similar problem with my skimmer a while ago. My problem was a small object lodged in the venturi, that was partially blocking it. I couldn't see it, but when I tried to push a small nail in...no go. Once I was able to pop it out...problem solved.

i am also thinking that there is something blocking it somewhere.

Hehe, on my way to work today i thought about pushing a pipe cleaner through there. I will give that a shot and see what happens.

That's exactly what it was! I had some calcium buildup in the venturi. I poked it out with a safety pin and it is back to normal!

Thanks all!

:thumbs:

Told ya!

I did the same thing! I checked everything but the last tiny bit of the venturi figuring nothing could have gotten in there. DOH! It doesn't take much to choke it off.

You know, I always flusk my venturi with fresh water. But, this makes me wonder if I should run a couple mills of vingar through it once a week? I have the vinegar handy because I use it for dosing kalk so it wouldn't be any big deal.