newbie question about return plugs

[agnathra]

ok first off i want to thank everyone again for all the wonderful help i've gotten from this forum, whether just from reading old posts or asking new questions! it really is amazing!

so anyway, i'm feeling confident enough to close my pool on my own....chattanooga, tn so it's not THAT cold, but it does get down in the 20's occasionally.

everything seems to be going ok...got my FC up, blowing out everything using a shop vac and one of those plastic things that goes down in the skimmer (gizzmo?)...i'm blowing air thru and getting huge jets of bubble out of the returns (water level is above returns).

my question is, when i screw in the caps (hayward caps with the o-ring), i keep getting a very small stream of bubbles out of the cap. i crank the cap down REAL far...way farther than i do with the drain cap on the cartridge filter (same style of cap), and to the point where i'm afraid i'm going to break something.

So should i be using some kind of sealant or plumber's tape or whatever on these caps go get a good seal? or are air bubbles not a big deal since it would still be water proof?

thanks in advance

 

[samt]

The air bubbles mean you have a leak. Those were a problem for me also except in the skimmer boxes where the bottom is smooth and flat and they worked good. For my returns I use the black expandable plugs with a wing nut. They solved the problem.

 

[Andrew Howard]

I just had the same problem yesterday, drained pool down and blew lines out and used more thread tape. Are you guys blowing the lines out under water and capping the returns??

 

[samt]

I just had the same problem yesterday, drained pool down and blew lines out and used more thread tape. Are you guys blowing the lines out under water and capping the returns??

If you don't lower the water below the returns. You have to plug the line while it's bubbling.