Closing help - Blowout advice

[JT8Diesel]

I've attached a diagram of my pool.

Planning to close tomorrow. I've adjusted chemicals, brushed and vacuumed today, should be in good shape to close tomorrow for chemistry. I had a couple questions about blowing out the lines. Specifically the best way to clear the lines.

I have an Air Supply Cyclone blower.

Will the following plan work? Any better ideas?

1. Shut down system, open air valve on top of filter.
2. Open filter housing, remove filter media.
3. Closer filter housing.
4. Drain water from pool to below the skimmer (but above the returns).
5. Connect cyclone blower to Skimmer
6. Position first 3-way valve so that the system is blocked, and the skimmer is open to the main drain.
7. Run blower until main drain is blowing air, close 3-way to airlock the main drain.
8. Run the blower through the system from the skimmer to the waterfall feature
9. Switch the return 3-way to now blow out main returns
10. Plug returns with threaded plugs
11. Cover and pray

Any better ideas?

Thanks

 

[ajw22]

Blow from the pump to blow out your skimmers and main drain.

Remove your IC20 for access to blow out your return lines.

Winterize your Mastertemp following directions in the Pentair MasterTemp manual.

Remove the filter drain plug.

Remove the two drain plugs in your pump.

For more tips...

Closing Pool for Winter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Darin]

I drain mine about 6 to 8 inches below returns. Then fill with lines with cheap RV anitfreeze from just after filter. Once i see pink anti freeze coming out of return I cap return line.

 

[ajw22]

I drain mine about 6 to 8 inches below returns.

You should not drain a vinyl liner pool much. It can let water get behind the liner over the winter.

 

[JT8Diesel]

Blow from the pump to blow out your skimmers and main drain.

Remove your IC20 for access to blow out your return lines.

Winterize your Mastertemp following directions in the Pentair MasterTemp manual.

Remove the filter drain plug.

Remove the two drain plugs in your pump.

For more tips...

Closing Pool for Winter - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com

When you say access the lines from the IC20, are you just holding the blower line in there, or do you have some kind of adapter to the union?

Sorry, I didn't specify, but yes, once all my "blowing" is done, I'll remove drain plugs, and do the master temp winterization as well.

 

[ajw22]

When you say access the lines from the IC20, are you just holding the blower line in there, or do you have some kind of adapter to the union?

Depending on the size of your pipes and the hose you have connected to the cyclone you should be able to hold the hose on the end of the pipe and blow into it.

 

[Darin]

ajw22, i wish you would have told me that 12 years ago when i started closing my pool. Never had water behind the liner, but now i am going to worry..... How does water get behind the liner?

 

[ajw22]

How does water get behind the liner?

The only thing keeping water from getting behind the liner is the pressure of the pool water holding the liner to the walls. We don't know your soil conditions or water table height and often neither do pool owners. Whether you have the problem depends on your local conditions.

Here is one member with the problem...

Water under liner after blowing out lines

Hi, I blew out my lines and drained the pool to get below the jets. We had a *lot* of rain and water got under the liner. Check out my shallow end... After 15 hours on the transfer pump it now looks like: Its hard to see, but there is just a little water left. My plan is to wait until...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[Darin]

Please see directions for Closing Pool on this web site.

Drain – Pump the water down till it is about four inches below the bottom of the returns. Usually I can do this with the regular pool pump, if the vacuum hose will allow the pump to stay primed. It usually works to setup a vacuum hose as if vacuuming so the pump can still draw water below the skimmer level. Some times too much air gets in and I lose prime, so I have to switch to the cover pump. If you have a main drain you can usually just use that and everything will go more easily.

I modified this to 6 to 8 which still gives me more that 18 inches of water in the shallow end. Still not sure how water gets behind liner if pool installed properly.

 

[Newdude]

I modified this to 6 to 8 which still gives me more that 18 inches of water in the shallow end. Still not sure how water gets behind liner if pool installed properly

It’s not the pool but the water table height and drainage of the surrounding yard, which varies from house to house. If the water table is higher than the level of the pool, it will seep under the pool wall and be forced up behind the liner. A big storm could do it as well once the ground was saturated if the top couple of feet was unable to drain further.

 

[Newdude]

When you say access the lines from the IC20, are you just holding the blower line in there, or do you have some kind of adapter to the union?

I used duct tape to hold both my shop vac hose and leaf blower tube to the plumbing. (Depending on what I used that year) With a generous wrapping a little air whistled out with the powerful blower but most of it went the right direction. The shop vac wasn’t strong enough to whistle.