Question about attaching a vac hose to a wall return

[TT030]

I want to do something a little unorthodox and figured this would be a good place to ask. I'm getting ready to drop the water level of my pool so I can winterize the lines. I also have a spa (that is completely separate from the pool) that I would like to empty and refill before the winter. That got me thinking why not use 520 gallons of my perfectly balanced pool water that is going to otherwise be dumped to refill the spa. The question I have is does anyone know if there is a fitting that can screw into a standard wall return that would allow me to attach a standard vac hose to it? The thinking is to use one of the return lines to pump water through the vac hose with the other end sitting in the spa to quickly refill it.

The water rates are getting a little crazy here and I figure using the pool water that I am going to discard seems like a good idea vs paying water and sewer for the 520 gallons I need. The alternate solution is using a submersible pump to achieve the same goal, but that would obviously take a lot longer.

 

[pabeader]

I bet, if you unscrew the eyeball part, the hose will fit right in there and stick good enough. You could always wrap some duct taper around it if it isn't big enough to stick.

Don't forget to tell the water people you are filling a Hot Tub. They really aren't allowed to charge you for water that you can prove is not going down the sewer. They will say they don't care, but if you press the issue, you really should get them to relent. I've only lived in two houses that were on municipal sewer and in both cases I was able to do this. One was easy, the other was harder, but I kept at them.

 

[440dodge440]

This is what I have:
Vac Lock Safety Wall Fitting for Suction Automatic Pool Cleaners by Hayward

 

[pabeader]

440 - Do you think that would work in reverse?

 

[440dodge440]

I don't see why it wouldn't. The door is spring loaded, so if it's the only return that's active, make sure the hose is in place to allow flow before the pump is turned on.

 

[pabeader]

I was worried the pressure from the water would blow the hose out of the fitting...

 

[440dodge440]

Hard to say...I know I can get the hose pretty tight, but I think it would depend on the hose length and how straight of a run it is...

 

[Durk]

Did you look at adapting the hose to your existing waste connection? Depending on how it is plumbed, it might be easier. Post a pic of your filter and I'm sure folks on here would have some ideas. If it is hard PVC all the way from the multi-port to the sewer line, then yeah, it's a non-starter. If there is flex involved, it could be easy.

The other point is that 520 gal is not a lot for a submersible. Heck, my cover pump does 1800 gph.

 

[mas985]

Do you have a hose bib on the output of the pool pump? You could first drain the spa and then refill it via the hose bib + hose and your pool pump.

Also, some sand filter multi-port valves have a drain to waste which bypasses the filter out of the backwash line which you could put in the spa.

 

[TT030]

Do you have a hose bib on the output of the pool pump? You could first drain the spa and then refill it via the hose bib + hose and your pool pump.

Also, some sand filter multi-port valves have a drain to waste which bypasses the filter out of the backwash line which you could put in the spa.

That is probably the best option. There is an old vacuum hose attached to it with a host clamp, but there are no vacuum fittings attached. The only downside is the filter is on the opposite end of the pool from the spa and would be upwards of a 60' run vs maybe a 25' run from the return in the shallow end of the pool. It's going to come down to whether I want to move the process along quickly or just throw the sump pump into the pool. I'm starting to lean towards the latter since it looks like it is going to be well above normal temps for the coming week.