equalizer line winterizing

[Casey McDougall]

Hello.
I am attempting to winterize my pool myself this year.
(we had a bad experience with the pool company last year)
I opened the skimmer box and there are two lines at the bottom.
(aquagenie single skimmer, single return)
I attached an air compressor to the drain valve on the skimmer at the pump to blow the lines out.
1 line goes to the pump which seems fine.
the other line seems to be an equalizer line.
I put a shop vac on it, but it seems to keep filling up with water.
the pool skimmer box and return is sealed in the pool with an aqua genie cover (plastic door w/ rubber gasket).
and the equalizer line (in the pool) has a plug in it.
where can this water be coming from?
Am I somehow pulling it through the pool skimmer cover with the shopvac?
thanks all for any suggestions...

 

[Catanzaro]

Do you have a main drain? The main drain may be connected to the skimmer (old school style). There is a thread from last year. Please give me a few days and hopefully I can locate the information that I feel may be of help. Thanks!

 

[Casey McDougall]

Thanks for reading.
I don't have a main drain.

 

[Catanzaro]

Thanks for reading.
I don't have a main drain.

Finding the information will be a bit difficult. But I believe the equalizer line may be for pressure under the pool. Do you know where the line does to?

 

[Casey McDougall]

I have an aqua genie skimmer which has two ports/lines on the bottom of the skimmer and a return line that comes to the front of the skimmer.
about 18 inches below the face plate in the pool is an outlet which i believe is connected to the line in the bottom of the skimmer closest to the pool and would be the equalizer line.
i believe this for two reasons:
1. once the return line disconnected by the pump while we were away and the pump continued to run and pumped water out of the pool below the skimmer box level.
I believe the equalizer line exists for this situation as when the level of pool water gets below the skimmer box, the water pressure will push the water up through the equalizer line back into the skimmer box and down the pump line, so as not to burn out the pump, which it didn't in my case.
2. and this year, after i blew out the pump line i was putting antifreeze in the skimmer box and we noticed some leaking into the pool via the outlet i mentioned.

 

[Catanzaro]

I have an aqua genie skimmer which has two ports/lines on the bottom of the skimmer and a return line that comes to the front of the skimmer.
about 18 inches below the face plate in the pool is an outlet which i believe is connected to the line in the bottom of the skimmer closest to the pool and would be the equalizer line.
i believe this for two reasons:
1. once the return line disconnected by the pump while we were away and the pump continued to run and pumped water out of the pool below the skimmer box level.
I believe the equalizer line exists for this situation as when the level of pool water gets below the skimmer box, the water pressure will push the water up through the equalizer line back into the skimmer box and down the pump line, so as not to burn out the pump, which it didn't in my case.
2. and this year, after i blew out the pump line i was putting antifreeze in the skimmer box and we noticed some leaking into the pool via the outlet i mentioned.

Do you believe there is a crack in the line? Also, where is the equalizer line picking the water up from?

 

[Casey McDougall]

I think what i might do this weekend is take the plug out of the pool side line and drop some food coloring into the water, then put the shop vac on the port in the bottom of the skimmer and see if it is drawing in pool water.
if it is then perhaps the plug wasn't making a good seal the last time we tried.
if it isn't pulling in pool water, but is still drawing water, then i have other things to think about i guess...

 

[Catanzaro]

I think what i might do this weekend is take the plug out of the pool side line and drop some food coloring into the water, then put the shop vac on the port in the bottom of the skimmer and see if it is drawing in pool water.
if it is then perhaps the plug wasn't making a good seal the last time we tried.
if it isn't pulling in pool water, but is still drawing water, then i have other things to think about i guess...

Good idea! I know some good professional pool guys who would stop and look at system, but only for the south.