Pool wall fitting shooting out water instead of sucking it in

[mflagge]

I am a new pool owner and just opened our inground gunite pool last week. We have a polaris filter from the previous owner. There was a lot of algae on the bottom, and the polaris seems to be broken, so we bought a cheaper hand vacuum. When I tried to install it, I noticed that the wall fitting where the polaris was connected to was shooting water out and not sucking water in. I then checked the skimmer, and the suction was pretty weak. We have a DE filter, which I have been backwashing and keeping about 10psi. What am I doing wrong? First question, should the wall fitting be sucking water in or pushing it out? Why is the suction bad in the skimmer? Is this something simple that I am missing?

Thanks so much

[Denniswiseman]

The vacuuming line should suck in water
The suction in the skimmmer should be quiet powerfull, do you have a main drain which may be connected by a divertor valve to share between skimmer and main drain
What are you returns like
There could be a blockage probably in your pump

[MP123]

Perhaps your side wall line is set up for a pressure style vacuum and not a suction style vacuum. You said there was an old polaris cleaner there and those usually are pressure style cleaners.