Strange obstruction

[bscuderi]

New to swimming pools just bought a house with a pool and I have been trolling to figure out chemicals and such. My pump housing blew and I had a pool guy out to fix it as it was covered under the home warranty. I also had noticed the auto fill wasn't working it was all dirty in there like it had been off for some time. The garden hose was in the pool when we moved in too indicating the previous owner knew it was broken. I cleaned out the well with the float in it and I tried every valve around the house as well as the water valves with the pool guts. The pool guy couldn't find anything that worked either. The repair guy found that the distributer carousel thing for the floor pop ups was bad and replaced that. So now all the floor pop ups are working and pushing dirt toward the main drain and I'm happy the pool guy has gone home but I'm noticing it doesn't seem the main drain is sucking anything in and through my reading in here it seems there's supposed to be one of those flying saucer diverted flit valve things in my skimmer port and I find it in the box with the pool chemicals. Why isn't it in the skimmer so I start looking in there and that's when I see this [emoji35][emoji35] it looks like a piece of flex tubing or something in the main drain port really clogged in there.

I'm assuming this isn't supposed to be here. Help!!! I can't keep calling a pool guy back and long story short it's making me super frustrated cause in the housing contract the guy signed that to his knowledge there was nothing wrong with the pool or pool parts etc. I'm really frustrated here. Not that I expected everything to work but at least these super obvious problems they were aware of be disclosed.


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[tim5055]

Yes, the diverted valve should be in there to,adjust the flow between the main drain and skimmer.

And no, I can't think of any reason why that flex hose is in there. It is certainly why there is no draw from the main drain.

 

[duraleigh]

I wonder if someone stuffed that in there to stop flow from the main drain?? There is virtually no other reason to do it but a flex hose seems like the VERY last thing you want to try to plug it.

 

[bscuderi]

I wonder if someone stuffed that in there to stop flow from the main drain?? There is virtually no other reason to do it but a flex hose seems like the VERY last thing you want to try to plug it.

Yeah it seems unintentional like it got sucked in. I figure if it was intentional wouldn't they just use a plug. I can't seem to get a hold of it with needle nose pliers and I can barely reach it with my fingers.


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[Richard320]

Do you know any mechanics or wannabe mechanics?

Call one and ask for some storks. And if he's got any radiator hose hooks. Or just email the image and let him see the problem for himself. He'll dig through his box and find something.

 

[eostrike]

Yeah it seems unintentional like it got sucked in. I figure if it was intentional wouldn't they just use a plug. I can't seem to get a hold of it with needle nose pliers and I can barely reach it with my fingers.


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I don't think it would get sucked from the skimmer into the drain. I could see it getting sucked into the suction side of the skimmer though.


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[zea3]

A long pair of needle nose vise grips might work too. I would have a plug for that line just in case this was done on purpose. If you can kind of chop it up with utility shears it will come out easier.

 

[bscuderi]

I don't think it would get sucked from the skimmer into the drain. I could see it getting sucked into the suction side of the skimmer though.


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Is there not any suction from that hole normally?


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[eostrike]

From the drain to the skimmer it would get water drawn in from the drain not to the drain. So with the hole going to the drain water would come up that hole and be sucked into the suction side of the skimmer. The actual suction from the main drain would be minimal I would think as most of the flow would come from the pool into the skimmer. This is just my opinion though.


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[bscuderi]

Do you know any mechanics or wannabe mechanics?

Call one and ask for some storks. And if he's got any radiator hose hooks. Or just email the image and let him see the problem for himself. He'll dig through his box and find something.

Bought some storks tonight I found in a two pack on clearance at Home Depot. I was able to pull out the weird tubing. It was followed by a large bouncy ball then next out of the hole was an underwater missile. Then so much dirt and leaves and sand it instantly clogged the pump basket which was previously mostly clean. I unclogged the pump basket but but now my pump housing sounds strained and chewing in rocks im sure that much debris at once plugged the impeller up. Seems online it seems you just can poke a coat hangar in there to fish out debris? Figured I'd do that In the morning. But the drain is unplugged so I'll consider this a win although I'm still super angry at the previous owner leaving it that way. Some people just dont care


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[foobert]

That sounds of rocks in the pump is most likely cavitation -- pulling too much vacuum in the suction side causes tiny bubbles of water vapor to form. Each bubble collapses with a tiny "bang", which is what sounds like gravel in the pump.

Too much vacuum means a restriction in the suction side. If it didn't make that noise before the debris storm of unplugging the main drain, I'd be very suspect of something new getting stuck.

Edit: BTW -- I'm very curious if you have a cover over your main drain that would keep something like a bouncy ball from getting into the drain pipe?

 

[n240sxguy]

That flexible tube looks like a dive stick. My kids had some like that. I wonder if this was just a case of a kid shoving stuff where it didn't belong. Hopefully there's not a big enough hole at the main drain to let all that stuff through.


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[bscuderi]

If that's what it is then kids must have as all three things jammed in there were pool toys. Now I have the ufo flow diverter and a strainer basket so nothing should get stuck again. I took the pump apart and cleaned debris out of the impeller with a pipe cleaner and now she's running whisper quiet


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[pooldv]

Good news! While everything is quiet for a minute take a little time to add your state to your location in your profile and your pool info to your signature as shown here, Pool School - Read This Before You Post. With people in Houston, OH and Dallas, PA I don't assume anymore and climate is often an important factor. It would be just my luck that you are in Phoenix, IL or Phoenix, NY.