Screw Tight®, Swimming Pool
Skimmer Closure System
Magically Magnetic Inc.
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Screw Tight® Safety Cap Skimmer Guard
The new swimming pool skimmer guard and critter catcher
replacement faceplate with round spillway and screw-in hatch cover.
Anyone with a swimming pool will eventually need to shut off the flow of water
that would enter the skimmer box so work can be done on the pool’s plumbing system
or to shut the pool down for the winter. In winter, water entering the skimmer box
will freeze, expand and break the skimmer box requiring expensive rebuilding of the
skimmer area and often the need to break up a beautiful concrete deck to repair
the broken skimmer parts. There are closure systems on the market that incorporate
a flimsy Tupperware like plastic lid to stop this water flow and the resulting ice
from doing its damage. The plastic lid of this unit is difficult to install in cold
water and even harder to get a good seal. Often the thin plastic lid will become
brittle from the cold or sunlight and crack, allowing water to enter the skimmer
box to freeze and crack the box. Perhaps worst of all, the large rectangular opening
allowing water to flow unrestricted into the skimmer box also allows hands and
arms of small children to enter the box. If the skimmer basket is missing, there
is nothing to keep hands and fingers away from the powerful suction of the pump
and drain hole in the bottom of the skimmer. Nothing on the market offers the
water tight seal and safety features that my patented new Screw Tight® unit
offers.
Screw Tight® skimmer covers are designed not only to allow you to easily stop
the flow of water into your pool's plumbing system, the smaller opening helps to
protect children from getting hands caught in the suction of the pump. Screw
Tight Skimmer Guards also restrict and speed up the flow of water into the skimmer
box during filtration. The scientific principle behind Screw Tight’s smaller opening
states that when a given amount of liquid is made to flow through a smaller opening
in the same length of time, it must flow faster. Faster flow ensures a stronger
current. We have all seen this principle at work in a wide slow moving stream
or river that comes to an area where the water must flow through a narrow section.
The water flows much faster and a strong current is formed in the narrow section.
It’s the same amount of water flowing through but it flows faster to get through
the smaller opening between the rocks. A helpless boater caught in this strong
current is now unable to maneuver his boat to either side and safety, when a few
minutes earlier in the slower moving water, he could have easily paddled to shore.
This stronger faster moving current flowing into the pool’s skimmer box opening
will naturally draw more floating debris from further away into the skimmer box.
This means the pool will be cleaned better and more thoroughly in a shorter amount
of time.
Here is another plus. The faster current flowing into my Screw Tight® skimmer
faceplate spillway also helps to trap and hold frogs, toads and other small furry
critters that find their way into the pool. Once in the skimmer box, they are trapped
by the current and held harmlessly in the skimmer box. To remove these critters from
the skimmer, just turn off the pool’s pump. The flow of water will stop and the
skimmer’s float operated trap door will swing up and close. The skimmer basket
with its load of critters can then simply be lifted out of the skimmer box and its
yucky contents discarded.
The clean, white, attractive faceplate of my Screw Tight® unit attaches to the pool
wall using the same screws, screw holes and gasket originally used. New gaskets are
available if your old gasket is damaged or in need of replacement. It only takes
couple of minutes to install the faceplate with its large round center spillway hole.
The round threaded hatch cover then just slips into the spillway hole of the faceplate
and screws in tight. An O-ring in the lip of the cover makes a watertight seal everytime
that holds fast. When maintenance requiring closure of the skimmer box is accomplished
or in spring when the need for winter shut down is over, just unscrew the hatch cover
and remove. Screw Tight hatch cover is made of heavy-duty, cold weather safe, bright
white plastic with a flexible rubber O-ring gasket. There is even a special slot on
the hatch cover handle to allow any long thin tool like a screw driver or wrench handle
to be inserted to apply extra turning power if you want.
Take a look at the pictures and see how easily my new cover works. The rectangular
faceplate measures 8-1/2" x 10-5/8" with a 5-1/4" diameter round
flow-hole in the middle. Screw Tight® Skimmer Guard and Critter stopper is made
to fit the standard rectangular skimmer hole openings of most in ground pools.
To check your pool for fit, measure the distance between the corner mounting
screw holes of your pools skimmer box opening. Measure diagonally from one
top corner screw to the opposite lower corner screw. The holes should be 11-3/8"
from the center of one hole to the center of the opposite diagonal corner hole.
Just remove the screws and the existing skimmer box faceplate with a screwdriver.
Use the same screws and the same gasket to reinstall your new Screw Tight®
faceplate. You’re done. When you need to shut off the skimmer box water flow,
simply turn off the pump, shut off the electricity to the pool at the fuse box
and screw the round hatch cover into the flow hole of the faceplate. Tighten
only hand tight with any long thin tool held in the oversize slot on the hatch
cover. Don’t over tighten this great new cover. The screw threads and rubber gasket
do the work for you.
Additional Security
Even with a Screw Tight® skimmer guard, it is possible for water to enter your skimmer
box from above through the crack around the edge of the skimmer lid or through the hole
in the center of the skimmer lid. A good item to use as additional safeguard against
freezing water damage is a Gizzmo. The Gizzmo is a hollow plastic plug that screws
into the outlet at the bottom of the skimmer box. Just seal the threads of the Gizzmo
with plumber’s silicon tape and screw it into place in the center of the skimmer box.
This will keep any water from entering the plumbing at the bottom of the skimmer box.
It will help guard against freeze damage by compressing when the water freezes instead
of the walls of the skimmer box giving way and expanding outward. Two sizes of Gizzmo
are available. Ask your pool specialist for the size Gizzmo that is right for your pool.
Order your own Screw Tight® skimmer cover for only $25.95 each. A new
gasket is only $6. Your new Screw Tight® cover and
faceplate will be shipped by Priority Mail. If you own a store and you would like
to sell my Screw Tight® closure systems in your store, give me a call at
724-352-3747 to discuss pricing. If you are a pool products manufacturer that would
like to purchase or lease my patent to manufacturer and sell this product under your own
company name, I would love to talk with you. I’d love to work with a successful
manufacturer that can do this product justice. You can call me any time at
724-352-3322. Just ask for David. Visit my website at
www.lyt.com to see all my other inventive
photo framing and display products.
Thank you for your interest in my system and for allowing me to explain how it works.