Your hose/rag suggestion

[maduro]

You can turn the valve all the way to the left and take the strainer basket lid off and stick a hose wrapped with a rag in the suction pipe and let it run a while. That may dislodge whatever's in there.

Hi Bama. I'm having the same issue here. Just opened my pool yesterday. Your hose/rag suggestion, is this hose going into the skimmer or in the housing attached to the pump? Whats the purpose of the rag? If its in the housing dont you run the risk of getting it sucked through? Is the rag supposed to stay on the hose? Sorry for the silly questions.
Thanks

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

You want to put the hose into the pipe that enters inside the pump strainer basket, which will run water backwards through the skimmer pipe towards the pool.

The rag is to try and seal the hose to the pipe, so there will be some water pressure pushing any blockage back towards the skimmer. The risk is that the rag will blow out towards you, which just gets everything wet but isn't otherwise a problem. I prefer to use a drain king, or similar fitting, which is specifically designed to seal a garden hose to a PVC pipe (or a drain).

 

[JohnT]

The difference between the rag method and the Drain King method is volume vs. pressure. The rag method gives you the full flow of the hose, but has trouble getting high pressure on the line. The Drain King seals the line and allows full pressure, but water flow is limited. IMO, the Drain King is best for a complete clog, while the rag method is better for a partial clog.