I started a thread here about my shop vac and if it's powerful enough to blow out my pool lines. Well I tried it today (it's a 4hp shop vac from Home Depot), and it blow the lines out OK, but not my waterfall....

My waterfall is about 3' above the waterline, so I guess I need something that can blow water up a 2" line about 5' high. I have seen the cyclone vac and was wondering if anyone knows if this might do the trick for me?

It says the blower will produce 160" of sealed pressure which is more than enough. But the sealed part is key. Blow by will prevent the pressure from getting that high unless you have a really good seal. Also, you will probably need to isolate the waterfall line or the air will simply blow by through the returns which could be your current problem. Can the waterfall line be isolated from everything else so you are only blowing air into the waterfall line?

The waterfall line is a separate line and can be isolated, but the shop vac just wasn't powerful enough. I am going to pick up the most powerful one sears sell (6.5hp) and see if that works. My current one I tried was only 4.5hp, so maybe the larger one might do it.

Maybe part of the trouble is the length of run from the equipment pad to the waterfall which is about 60 feet.

Just to be clear, I was talking about the Cyclone vac as having 160" of pressure not your vac. I don't know what your vac can do.

Ya, I understand

I picked up the 6.5hp one and I'll try it out tomorrow and see how it does, I'm not holding my breath though.

I wonder what the "equivalent" the 6.5hp vac is in terms of inches of pressure, if it's more or if it's less than the Cyclone at 160"....

I don't mind spending the money on the Cyclone if it works, but I'd hate to order it and find it is just the same as the shop vac and it won't blow out the waterfall lines either.

Did you ever try to suck the water out with a wet vac?

Ya I was thinking of that, but the opening of the waterfall is a long narrow slit, but I guess I could use lots of tape to seal most of it off, and try and use the narrow crevice attachment on the shop vac and tape it to the remaining opening to try and get a good seal and suck the water out that way.

You shouldn't need to seal the waterfall. It will just draw in air which should be ok.

Well It worked using two shop vacs...

I used one by the equipment pad and had it blowing down the line, and had the other on the face of the waterfall and used it as a vacuum to suck the water out while the other was blowing. Just using one or the other didn't do it, I had to have both running, but I am now able to empty my lines out.

The cyclone vac is what 95% of pool guys use. It can blow out your waterfall just fine

Well I figured I didn't want to mess around with two shop vacs so I ordered the cyclone...

Gotta have the right tools for the job, right...

Matt Heck,

Just wondering on the size of fitting on the outlet of the Cyclone? Is it 1.5"? How do you attach the outlet to the pools plumbing, just by using a 1.5" flex hose?

Flyboy,

What hoses and adapters are you using with the cyclone to blow out the underground pipes and fountain?

What is your method of adding antifreeze to the plumbing?

I just used a combination of a cheap flexible hose and one coupler which allowed me to hook it up to my water filter outlet drain. I then removed the water filter and turned the blower on to blow the lines out. Works great

What I did differently this year was to use a variable speed control with the blower so it didn't blow the water out with full force initially. I had trouble last year where the full force of the blower did damage to my waterfall and I had to remove it from the brick work and replace it. The thin lip where the water comes into the waterfall cracked under the pressure of the water being blown out of it.....so the cyclone is a very powerful blower!

If you want pictures let me know and I'll take some when I get back home on Tuesday.