How to drain pool correctly to winterize.

[qwesthunter]

The pool at the home i just purchased has only one drain line coming from the skimmer port to the pump,then from the pump to the sand filter and then through the chlorine feeder and back to the pool. There is no valve before the pump to switch from skimmer and main drain. The skimmer box does have 2 pipes in it. One might be the main drain pipe--would there be a valve in there i need to open? My understanding is to winterize i need to get the water level below the skimmer and the return ports and then blow out the water in the lines. Any suggestions on how to drain the pool correctly would be greatly appriciated.
Thanks

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! It sound as if in your case you have one "shared" suction line that goes to the pump. It get its water from the poolside skimmer and main drain. I suspect your main drain is plumbed into your skimmer which is why you have two holes in there. Be aware that in some pools (over time) the main drain may have been plugged due to problems so it's basically closed-off. Pools that have a skimmer with both skimmer holes operational typically have a "diverter" installed under the skimmer basket. It's kind of shaped like a flying saucer and can swing back & forth to partially cover one of the hole to allow more suction from the other. If you don't have a diverter installed, you could try covering-up one hole with a tennis ball (quickly) to see if water gets pulled from the open hole.

So once you know if you have water flow from the main drain, you know that you'll need to winterize that line as well. Hope that makes sense. If your sand filter has a multiport valve, and your main drain "does" pull water, you could easily continue to drain water "to waste" from your filter - once the water goes below the skimmer it will continue to pull from the main drain. If your main drain is not operational, then you'll need to siphon below the skimmer or use a submersible pump to lower the water to where you need it to clear all the lines.

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