First time closing - skimmer holes!

Jump to latest Follow Reply
W

Wessica

New member
May 14, 2019
1
Bowie, MD
Hi All! We are attempting to close our in ground vinyl pool for the first time. I’ve read up on everything and felt prepared until we realized there’s a second hole in the deep end skimmer with no purpose? We have no main drain. There is no equalizer port anywhere in the pool. The shallow end skimmer has two holes as well but one is plugged. What could the second hole be? Once we are able to start blowing air through the lines maybe it’ll just clear out and we’ll know it’s connected to the pump. However, we’d love to know what’s up before we get to that point. Thank you!
*this is my first post so please let me know if I’ve done anything wrong, forum wise.
 
Last edited:
Hello Wessica and welcome to TFP! :wave: Sorry no one has replied to your post since Saturday. By now you may have eveyrthing all buttoned-down huh? Well, as you may have already guessed, often times 2-hole skimmers are installed during construction, even if both holes were not plumbed or designed to be used. It's just what the builder had on-hand. While you can plainly see the shallow-end skimmer (second) hole plugged, perhaps the deep end skimmer hole was plugged deeper below ground that you can't see? Have you already closed or experimented to see?
 
Texas Splash said:
Hello Wessica and welcome to TFP! :wave: Sorry no one has replied to your post since Saturday. By now you may have eveyrthing all buttoned-down huh? Well, as you may have already guessed, often times 2-hole skimmers are installed during construction, even if both holes were not plumbed or designed to be used. It's just what the builder had on-hand. While you can plainly see the shallow-end skimmer (second) hole plugged, perhaps the deep end skimmer hole was plugged deeper below ground that you can't see? Have you already closed or experimented to see?
Click to expand...
Texas,
Wouldn't that be a problem if it were plugged lower down and there was water in it above the freeze line. Not sure I understand
 
wireform said:
Texas,
Wouldn't that be a problem if it were plugged lower down and there was water in it above the freeze line. Not sure I understand
Click to expand...
In retrospect, you would think so. However some builders are known to have installed a "reserve line". A reserve line is when they plumb 2 parallel lines from the skimmer to the filter pad. They will only plumb one to the pump, but leave the other stubbed up (capped and plugged) to be used later if the original line ever fails. The problem with that is since the pipes are run together, what breaks one will probably break the other, unless it's freeze damage and the reserve line has been kept dry.

So take a peek around the pad to see if there are any unexplained pipes sticking-up and capped. If not, then you may have to try and push a snake in there just to see if it hits a plug or something below.


@Pool_Medic, are we missing anything else?
 
  • Like
Reactions: wireform
Do as Texas says to see if maybe it is plugged on the outside as that is possible. In any case that water must come out or be foamed. First see how deep you can go in there. Then see if you can suck it dry with a wet vac. If not and even if you can, get at few feet of foam rope down there and cap it. Leave it capped when you open and see if everything works and that way you may learn what it is for.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread Status
Hello , This thread has been inactive for over 60 days. New postings here are unlikely to be seen or responded to by other members. For better visibility, consider Starting A New Thread.
Top Bottom
Back
Jump to latest Follow Reply