- May 30, 2009
- 2
I hope someone out there has further suggestions for clearing what I believe to be a partially blocked skimmer intake line.
Some details:
I have a 15k rectangle shaped concrete (gunnite?) pool that is abot 20 years old.
I have 1 skimmer intake and 1 bottom drain intake. There are 5 jets for water return.
I have a new Advantage MasterFlow In-Ground Pool Pump 1HP (its less than 2 month old and was bought as a compltete pump and basket unit)
I am using a Hayward sand filter 5+ yrs old but new sand less than a yr ago.
I replaced my pool cleaner with a Zodiac yesterday and it worked beautifully for the first 6 hrs.
The pool was quite dirty due to old cleaner having died and me having a small budget to replace it so had to wait for a sale. I have been running the pool without an auto cleaner and using a pool broom and net to remove leaves and such. BUT lost ground on keeping it clean and there was a lot of leaves on bottom of pool.
As I said at first the cleaner worked beautifully and I had to backwash the pool about 3 times as the filter got dirty. It backwashed as usual and pressure was as usual as well. Then suddenly the pressure dropped so I removed the cleaner checked for blockages there it was fine. I checked the skimmer nothing visible there either, I cleaned out the basket at the pump, primed and started the pool, leaving the cleaner off just running the skimmer no bottom drain either. The water was not coming in with enough pressure to fill the basket all the way as it usually does. I turned off pool opened bottom intake restarted pool it filled basket to top no bubbles visible. Turned off re-shut bottom vent turned on pool - not enough flow to fill basket once again. Left it over night the pump held its prime but once again when tried to run without bottom drain open water only filled basket halfway.
Researched here on the forum read about blocked intakes and assume this is what I have since its holding it prime and only has reduced water flow when trying to run through skimmer alone as bottom intake works as usual.
1) Tried flushing it from pump end with garden hose, nothing if anything seemed to make it a tad worse as water flow seemed to almost stop entirely on and off when I re-tested it.
2) Tried using a pipe snake but there are alot of 90 degree angles and was afraid of puncturing pipes so didn't push to ohard, still getting reduced flow.
3) Got out my wet-vac tried sucking out pipe from skimmer end with no luck.
4) bought a Drain King type diaphram stuck it into pipe hole in skimmer basket, but could not get far in as pipe meets a T about 8 inch from basket where bottom drain intake meets skimmer intake on way to basket. Pushed in as far as I could turned on water and left for about 30 minutes. There was water flow (current) coming up into the pool skimmer from the drain king but no debris came through.
Tested pool, still reduced flow. Redid Drain King and then tried keeping thee drain king inflated in one end of pipe and stuck my wet vac against skimmer pipe intake. Sucked lots of clear water through but no debris, or dirt or anything just clean water sucked into wet vac. Tried for several minutes then tested and still reduced flow when just the skimmer intake is used if bottom intake is turned on flow returns to normal. I have to be able to attach my pool cleaner to the skimmer intake or it won't work and right now there isn't enough suction to run the cleaner.
What other options do I have at this point?
What am I missing or doing wrong?
Some details:
I have a 15k rectangle shaped concrete (gunnite?) pool that is abot 20 years old.
I have 1 skimmer intake and 1 bottom drain intake. There are 5 jets for water return.
I have a new Advantage MasterFlow In-Ground Pool Pump 1HP (its less than 2 month old and was bought as a compltete pump and basket unit)
I am using a Hayward sand filter 5+ yrs old but new sand less than a yr ago.
I replaced my pool cleaner with a Zodiac yesterday and it worked beautifully for the first 6 hrs.
The pool was quite dirty due to old cleaner having died and me having a small budget to replace it so had to wait for a sale. I have been running the pool without an auto cleaner and using a pool broom and net to remove leaves and such. BUT lost ground on keeping it clean and there was a lot of leaves on bottom of pool.
As I said at first the cleaner worked beautifully and I had to backwash the pool about 3 times as the filter got dirty. It backwashed as usual and pressure was as usual as well. Then suddenly the pressure dropped so I removed the cleaner checked for blockages there it was fine. I checked the skimmer nothing visible there either, I cleaned out the basket at the pump, primed and started the pool, leaving the cleaner off just running the skimmer no bottom drain either. The water was not coming in with enough pressure to fill the basket all the way as it usually does. I turned off pool opened bottom intake restarted pool it filled basket to top no bubbles visible. Turned off re-shut bottom vent turned on pool - not enough flow to fill basket once again. Left it over night the pump held its prime but once again when tried to run without bottom drain open water only filled basket halfway.
Researched here on the forum read about blocked intakes and assume this is what I have since its holding it prime and only has reduced water flow when trying to run through skimmer alone as bottom intake works as usual.
1) Tried flushing it from pump end with garden hose, nothing if anything seemed to make it a tad worse as water flow seemed to almost stop entirely on and off when I re-tested it.
2) Tried using a pipe snake but there are alot of 90 degree angles and was afraid of puncturing pipes so didn't push to ohard, still getting reduced flow.
3) Got out my wet-vac tried sucking out pipe from skimmer end with no luck.
4) bought a Drain King type diaphram stuck it into pipe hole in skimmer basket, but could not get far in as pipe meets a T about 8 inch from basket where bottom drain intake meets skimmer intake on way to basket. Pushed in as far as I could turned on water and left for about 30 minutes. There was water flow (current) coming up into the pool skimmer from the drain king but no debris came through.
Tested pool, still reduced flow. Redid Drain King and then tried keeping thee drain king inflated in one end of pipe and stuck my wet vac against skimmer pipe intake. Sucked lots of clear water through but no debris, or dirt or anything just clean water sucked into wet vac. Tried for several minutes then tested and still reduced flow when just the skimmer intake is used if bottom intake is turned on flow returns to normal. I have to be able to attach my pool cleaner to the skimmer intake or it won't work and right now there isn't enough suction to run the cleaner.
What other options do I have at this point?
What am I missing or doing wrong?