Lining broken pipe with vinyl hose

[okiealfaaddict]

New to here, sorry if this is question has been asked before, but could not find any info in searching. I have a 15 x 30 vinyl sport pool with a main drain and 2 skimmers, DE filter and whisperflow pump. There is a crack or broken inlet line from one of the skimmers. Filter gets full of red dirt (Oklahoma) and sand when this skimmer is on. So much sand got sucked in that it damaged the DE filter grid fabric. Have done many test and have determined 100% that there is a crack or broken line from this skimmer. There is not a local company that will line the pipe. I really don't want to dig up the line, pour new concrete, etc. Has anyone ever tried lining the pipe themselves using with a vinyl hose similar to the thin flex rollup hose like the hose used for waste/flushing. My idea is to snake a wire from the skimmer to the shutoff valve, and pull the lubricated flex hose through, much like an electrician pulls wire thru conduit, then secure the hose to the pipe at the skimmer end. the overall repair would be similar to this product, but with using the standard vinyl hose. http://www.flow-liner.com/swimming_pool ... epair.html. Any thoughts? Also, has anyone used flow-liner?

 

[JamesW]

Vinyl flex rollup hose won't work under suction. The best thing to do is to try to locate the leak and repair it. If it's under concrete, you can usually cut a hole, dig down to repair the pipe and then patch the hole in the concrete.

 

[okiealfaaddict]

Thanks for the reply, but this is exactly what I am trying to avoid.

 

[okiealfaaddict]

Regarding "won't work under suction". Seems to me the amount of suction and/or flow would be the same if this was on an inlet line or supply line. I wouldn't think the flow rate or pressure would be significantly different on the inlet or outlet side of the pump. I would think that if the hose was secured at the skimmer, the flowing water would expand the hose to the inside diameter of the pipe and it would just flow through the hose lined pipe. Do you know why it won't work?

 

[bk406]

The skimmer is on the suction side of the pump. It sucks water from the pool, puts it thru the filter and returns the water under pressure. If you used a flexible hose on the suction side, the power of the suction would most likely collapse the hose.
A leak detection company can pinpoint the leak for you so you will only have to remove a small portion of concrete.

 

[stlpoolguy]

James and bk are right. The drain hose will certainly collapse under suction.

I had the same issue with the pipe from my main drain and hoped to find an easy solution as well. There isn't one. For the time being, can you valve off that skimmer? Have you tried plugging the pipe opening in the skimmer with a rubber plug?