Main drain severe blockage

[Fooled]

Hello all, hope all is well and all that!

I have a gunite pool that was constructed in the late 1950s. It used to be an indoor pool as well (prior to my owning the house). Over the years ive learned a lot about proper pool care (meaning i wasnt as diligent as I am now about keeping things clean). With that said, the main drain isjust a big open hole with a cap about 1/4 above it to stop big debris from falling in. Im afraid at this point there is a pretty good blockage in there of sticks/dirt/leaves/anything else that could have gotten in there. I have tried air and a bladder from the other side, and used the pump to try and rock the water back and forth each way. Nobody in my area seems to service plumbing on gunite pools, let alone ones that are this old (over 2 years i cannot even get a quote.) The best advice I have been given is to have a scuba guy come in and seal it off completely.

at this point, I am looking for some further advice... Does this make sense? If so is there anything else i should consider? Its about 25k gallons and currently am using a 1hp pump and sand filter. (not sure any of that matters just adding any extra info that could be helpful)

thanks in advance for anything you have to offer

 

[1poolman1]

Hello all, hope all is well and all that!

I have a gunite pool that was constructed in the late 1950s. It used to be an indoor pool as well (prior to my owning the house). Over the years ive learned a lot about proper pool care (meaning i wasnt as diligent as I am now about keeping things clean). With that said, the main drain isjust a big open hole with a cap about 1/4 above it to stop big debris from falling in. Im afraid at this point there is a pretty good blockage in there of sticks/dirt/leaves/anything else that could have gotten in there. I have tried air and a bladder from the other side, and used the pump to try and rock the water back and forth each way. Nobody in my area seems to service plumbing on gunite pools, let alone ones that are this old (over 2 years i cannot even get a quote.) The best advice I have been given is to have a scuba guy come in and seal it off completely.

at this point, I am looking for some further advice... Does this make sense? If so is there anything else i should consider? Its about 25k gallons and currently am using a 1hp pump and sand filter. (not sure any of that matters just adding any extra info that could be helpful)

thanks in advance for anything you have to offer

Best advice is to seal it. It may have been done in the past as the plumbing could have leaked. Opening it could buy you a world of trouble on a pool that old. Not really needed, especially if you have any type of automatic pool cleaner.

 

[Fooled]

Best advice is to seal it. It may have been done in the past as the plumbing could have leaked. Opening it could buy you a world of trouble on a pool that old. Not really needed, especially if you have any type of automatic pool cleaner.

thanks. it wasnt sealed before. im pretty sure when my cover ripped 2 years ago and a ton of leaves made it to the bottom, and i just turned it on thinking id just clean the pump basket it got pretty plugged. ive swam down and cleared a bunch of debris from the pipe but i can feel stones even further in than i can really reach.