Clean Your Pipes!

[Dirk]

For all with an auto-leveler or any sort of overflow port in their pool:

After that last big California storm, I noticed my pool's water level was very high. Too high. The level got above the outlet port of my auto leveler. I now recall I saw its pipe full of water a while back, but for whatever reason that fact didn't register that there was a problem. Obviously there was a blockage somewhere.

So I temporarily fitted a hose to the outlet port, "temporarily" being the key word there, then proceeded to turn the hose's nozzle on. I let go of the hose after doing so and it promptly popped off the pipe and drenched me head-to-waist. Fun times.

I tried again, this time holding on to the hose, and after a few spurts got the flow going. At the same time the other end revealed itself where it comes out in my yard. I proceeded to investigate that end and found it all covered with dirt and roots and overgrowth. I cleared all that out and restored the flow. I will later extend that pipe so that it can't happen again.

Just a reminder, if you have such a setup, to run some water through it and make sure it is not on its way to getting clogged up. Check the end to be sure it is clear. That flow is not under pressure, just gravity, so it doesn't take much to plug it up.

I lucked out, in that I noticed it before the pool overflowed. But Murphy's Law specifically states that should blockage occur, enough to cause the pool to overflow, it can only happen at night, while it's pouring, and just after you've put on your nice, warm jammies. ("Jammies" is actually how it is expressed in the ML text.)

Check it soon, before the rains start in earnest.

 

[ajw22]

 

[Homebrewale]

I never had an issue with the overflow pipe but if I did, I would use the pressure washer pipe cleaner to clean it out. I use it to clean out the gutter downspout pipes that I run underground away from the house.

 

[Dirk]

I never had an issue with the overflow pipe but if I did, I would use the pressure washer pipe cleaner to clean it out. I use it to clean out the gutter downspout pipes that I run underground away from the house.

As with any clogged pool plumbing pipe, you have to be careful not to damage it while clearing it. In most cases, there's no fixing something like that, not without cutting through your deck and digging down to the pipe. So whether using a rotor-rooter type tool, or pressure, or just jabbing something through it, start with the least aggressive method or setting and use only what is necessary to punch through.

I had no idea where the pipe ended, otherwise I wouldn't have used any pressure at all, I would have gone directly to the end and just dug it out. I only had to force water through it to find it. Had I checked on it before it clogged, I would have been able to know where it was without risking the underground pipe.

So I should add to this thread: even if yours is working fine, now's the time to find "the other end" and mark its location in some way. I'm going to extend mine so that it can no longer be buried. It'll be in plain sight and I'll always be able to find it.

 

[Turbo1Ton]

Thanks for the reminder on these things @Dirk ! My PB installed a pop-up on the end of my autofill drain line so that it wouldn't get plugged up with debris. And it is a deep green so it never matches the color of the grass!



--Jeff

 

[Dirk]

Thanks for the reminder on these things @Dirk ! My PB installed a pop-up on the end of my autofill drain line so that it wouldn't get plugged up with debris. And it is a deep green so it never matches the color of the grass!

View attachment 465307

--Jeff

Nice. Mine was placed such that it was inevitable that it would clog. Yours looks very professional and practical, like someone gave it some forethought. Mine was more like the ol' "Good enough, we'll be long gone before this gives out," dealio.

 

[Homebrewale]

As with any clogged pool plumbing pipe, you have to be careful not to damage it while clearing it. In most cases, there's no fixing something like that, not without cutting through your deck and digging down to the pipe. So whether using a rotor-rooter type tool, or pressure, or just jabbing something through it, start with the least aggressive method or setting and use only what is necessary to punch through.

I have never damaged any PVC or corrugated pipes using my Clog Hog.

Sewer Jetter - 50 Ft. Needle Nose Drain Cleaner for Your Pressure Washer - Clog Hog

 

[Dirk]

I have never damaged any PVC or corrugated pipes using my Clog Hog.

Sewer Jetter - 50 Ft. Needle Nose Drain Cleaner for Your Pressure Washer - Clog Hog

You're assuming:
- all pool plumbing is built perfectly with no defects in the glue joints
- soil has not expanded or contracted or otherwise shifted to apply additional torque to underground pipes, where just a bit more could end up cracking the pipe or a fitting
- that whatever might be clogging the pipe just might not succumb to a Clog Hog before the pipe breaks
- that there are not any number of elbows inline that could foul and trap something like a Clog Hog
- and that everyone trying out a Clog Hog knows how to use it properly.

I don't even know what a Clog Hog is, I'm just pointing out that shoving anything into an underground pipe should be farther down the list of things to try than less aggressive methods.

Since locating the end of your overflow pipe and periodically inspecting it to keep it free of dirt and debris is the very least intrusive thing to do, that's at the top of the list, and was really the point of this thread.

 

[Dirk]

OK, to be fair, I took a peek at your Clog Hog link. It's a device for clearing drain lines, which start at 1.5" diameter, and are usually assembled with sweep fittings (large diameter curves). I think I can safely say that is not the proper tool to clear an underground 1" or 3/4" overflow pipe that could have any number of unknown 90° elbows inline. Well, I'll put it this way, I would never use it for that.

 

[Homebrewale]

OK, to be fair, I took a peek at your Clog Hog link. It's a device for clearing drain lines, which start at 1.5" diameter, and are usually assembled with sweep fittings (large diameter curves). I think I can safely say that is not the proper tool to clear an underground 1" or 3/4" overflow pipe that could have any number of unknown 90° elbows inline. Well, I'll put it this way, I would never use it for that.

My overflow pipe was 2" PVC. If there is a 90 degree elbow, it will not go past that.

 

[Homebrewale]

You're assuming:
- all pool plumbing is built perfectly with no defects in the glue joints
- soil has not expanded or contracted or otherwise shifted to apply additional torque to underground pipes, where just a bit more could end up cracking the pipe or a fitting
- that whatever might be clogging the pipe just might not succumb to a Clog Hog before the pipe breaks
- that there are not any number of elbows inline that could foul and trap something like a Clog Hog
- and that everyone trying out a Clog Hog knows how to use it properly.

I don't even know what a Clog Hog is, I'm just pointing out that shoving anything into an underground pipe should be farther down the list of things to try than less aggressive methods.

Since locating the end of your overflow pipe and periodically inspecting it to keep it free of dirt and debris is the very least intrusive thing to do, that's at the top of the list, and was really the point of this thread.

I'm not assuming anything. I have a lot of experience with the tool. You have a long list of concerns without even know what the item is and never have used it. It is not that aggressive of a tool. I had to replaced a downspout pipe because it couldn't even dislodge the smallest of roots that get into it through a joint. All the tool does is use several openings in the nozzle to wash dirt back in the direction that it was inserted. It's not aggressive enough to dislodge poorly glued joints and not flexible enough to get pass an elbow and get stuck. If a pipe is already cracked or torqued enough to crack from the Clog Hog, that piping already is at the point of needing replacing. You make it sound like it's so aggressive it could cut PVC. It's not even aggressive enough to cut softer plastic like corrugated pipe.

 

[Dirk]

I'm not assuming anything. I have a lot of experience with the tool. You have a long list of concerns without even know what the item is and never have used it. It is not that aggressive of a tool. I had to replaced a downspout pipe because it couldn't even dislodge the smallest of roots that get into it through a joint. All the tool does is use several openings in the nozzle to wash dirt back in the direction that it was inserted. It's not aggressive enough to dislodge poorly glued joints and not flexible enough to get pass an elbow and get stuck. If a pipe is already cracked or torqued enough to crack from the Clog Hog, that piping already is at the point of needing replacing. You make it sound like it's so aggressive it could cut PVC. It's not even aggressive enough to cut softer plastic like corrugated pipe.

I stand by my comments even more so after visiting their website. It's not the spraying action that is the issue. I agree, that is not any more aggressive than doing what I did, which was forcing water through my overflow pipe. The risk comes from unnecessarily jamming something, anything, into an underground pipe that could apply force to the pipe or its fittings, or worse, get stuck in there doing so. It's the hose itself, not the spray.

It's perfectly fine you suggested an unclogging tool to address a clog. But it's the wrong tool for an overflow pipe of typical diameter (3/4" to 1"), and even if you have a larger pipe you'd still want to try other things first before you run anything but water through it.

And ya kinda made one of my points for me. You have a lot of experience with the tool. The vast majority of pool owners wouldn't. Here at TFP we sort out a lot of pool and plumbing problems due to inexperience. We start simple, and as unobtrusive as possible, and work our way up from there.