Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Like many of you, I bought this skimmer to attach it to my Intex pool that did not come with one from the manufacturer. I have an Intex 22'x52" Ultra-Frame pool that I had recently upgraded with an Intex sand filter and pump with salt water ECO system combo from the lousy cartridge filter pump that came with the pool. I searched all through the reviews and questions asked on this product, many YouTube videos, and Google searches to determine the best way to install this skimmer. This Hayward skimmer is very durable and looks great. It comes with a filter-basket, hardware, gasket, and everything needed to install to your pool. A lot of the reviews on here said to cut the butterfly gasket into two pieces, install your skimmer onto your liner, then cut out the liner at the opening of the skimmer. I did the opposite, by taking the skimmer inlet faceplate and tracing around the inside of the inlet and also the screw holes. I then used a punch and poked through the liner where the screws should go. With my water level below the bottom of my inlet outline, I used a box cutter and slowly cut out the liner around my inlet outline I had marked earlier. Now I was able to install the gasket around both sides of my liner like it was intended. I then poked my screws through the inlet faceplate and the gasket and screwed them down tight into the skimmer body. No trimming of the screws was necessary and everything bolted together tight without a single leak. I didn't want to hard plumb the skimmer to my pump, and thanks to my new sand filter pump I had two extra Intex hoses laying around that I wanted to try to use to make the plumbing look as clean and factory as possible. Intex hose end fittings are 40mm and aren't your typical pump fitting size (1 1/2"), so I went to Lowe's and got everything I could find to make this work. I wanted to be able to still use the two inlet ports on the pool as well as the skimmer and I wanted to be able to shut off flow to the skimmer also. To do this I needed a ballcock to install onto the skimmer and a tee fitting to bring the skimmer hose and the original inlet hose together at the pump inlet. I found a 3" long double threaded pipe with 1 1/2" threads that threaded right into the bottom of the skimmer body. I wrapped both ends of the pipe in PTFE tape to minimize leaks, then installed the ballcock (1 1/2" threads as well) onto the pipe. I was able to find some special adapter fittings on Amazon that allows you to attach an Intex 40mm hose onto a 1 1/2" standard fitting. These are made by GAME and come in a pack of two. I bought two packs and installed one of the fittings into the ballcock and attached my extra Intex hose onto this fitting using the supplied gasket. I installed two more of the special adapter fittings onto my 1 1/2" tee fitting and installed the other end of my skimmer hose onto one side of the tee with a gasket, then attached my original inlet hose to the other end of the tee using a gasket as well. Since I didn't have anything to attach two of the Intex 40mm fittings together at the pump inlet and my other end of the tee, I decided to use the slide-on hose fitting that came with the skimmer and attached it to the middle tee fitting. I took a box cutter and cut the end off of one of my extra Intex hoses and jammed it down tight onto the Hayward slide-on fitting and put a nice bead of silicone RTV sealant around the outside and inside edge where the hose end meets up with the Hayward fitting. Let that sit and dry for an hour, then connected my tee with my two new skimmer and original inlet hoses to my sand filter pump. I wrapped several layers of PTFE tape around all threads before connecting any hoses and so far no leaks! Hopefully this will help someone in the future who wants to add one of these nice skimmers to their pools.