Blowing out the lines!

[sjdavis2]

Hello all,

I have had quite the journey scouring the internet to determine if my air compressor will work for blowing out my lines. It seems like both HP and capacity are important. Some people state 5 gallons, others state at least 2 HP. Others say smaller is fine. Others say the compressor must be "good".

Are there guidelines for determining if your air compressor is "good" enough. Mine is a pancake compressor, 150 psi 6 gallon capacity with .8 HP. Will this work for me? Or is this something that we just have to try and see if we are successful at blowing out the lines? What do we set the regulator to when blowing out the lines? Are there any ways we can make sure the lines are blown out correctly, especially the return lines if they are remaining underwater?

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I have been really confused about this topic. Hopefully others have as well that are new at this, and the experts here can provide us with some direction! Thank you!

Best,
Scott

 

[JVTrain]

Both a shop-vac and a compressor can be successful at blowing out lines, but it's a matter of pressure and volume. A shop vac is good at volume, bad at pressure. A compressor is good at pressure, bad at volume. You need a fair amount of both to blow out lines, especially main drains. The only way to know if your compressor works is to try it. When you do try it, I would aim for setting the PSI at 30 or less.

Every pool has different lengths and sizing of PVC plumbing meaning a different volume of plumbing to evacuate so it's hard to say if your compressor will work. A cyclone blower designed to blow out pool lines will have the greatest chance of success and would be practically guaranteed to work as it's specifically designed to blow out pool lines with high volume and moderate pressure... but they are a "uni-tasker" and cost $300.

 

[Jcgage0]

I have the exact same specs on my compressor and I'm wondering if it will work.

 

[Jcgage0]

Based on my calcs it seems like a normal pancake would do. Do you have any suggestions of where to find adapters to hook up the compressor directly to the main drain line at the shot of valve?

 

[JVTrain]

Folks who use compressors generally just use a fitting that goes into the drain hole at the base of the pump basket. A properly sized NPT quick connect will screw into the drain plug hole.

 

[samt]

Hello all,

I have had quite the journey scouring the internet to determine if my air compressor will work for blowing out my lines. It seems like both HP and capacity are important. Some people state 5 gallons, others state at least 2 HP. Others say smaller is fine. Others say the compressor must be "good".

Are there guidelines for determining if your air compressor is "good" enough. Mine is a pancake compressor, 150 psi 6 gallon capacity with .8 HP. Will this work for me? Or is this something that we just have to try and see if we are successful at blowing out the lines? What do we set the regulator to when blowing out the lines? Are there any ways we can make sure the lines are blown out correctly, especially the return lines if they are remaining underwater?

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I have been really confused about this topic. Hopefully others have as well that are new at this, and the experts here can provide us with some direction! Thank you!

Best,
Scott

I have the same compressor and it works fine. Been using it the last 5 yrs.

Look on page 5. How I blow out lines with a small compressor.