Black poly return line repair

[gworrel]

Hi all,

My inground gunnite pool is about 45 years old. One of my black poly return lines just sprung a leak. Luckily, the patio around the pool consists of street pavers set in sand so getting to the point of the leak was relatively easy. The leak is a small slit just before a stainless clamp that connects to the return wall fitting. The fitting is probably bronze and was made by Landon. I just got done replacing all the tile, patching many plaster and gunnite flaws, and painting the pool with epoxy paint so I am really not looking for another major repair. I am looking for suggestions for the easiest way to repair this. Right now all I can think is to cut the poly pipe far enough back to fit a barbed fitting to a new piece of poly pipe clamped to the pool wall fitting at one end and the new barbed coupling at the other. I am not sure how flexible the pipe will be to work a patched section in. I have a heat gun but melting plastic concerns me. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[gworrel]

The easiest repair might be to use something like this:

 

[X-PertPool]

I would replace the wall fitting as well but if your not going to that rubber boot would work or a double barbed fitting will work to if you can bend the pipe enough to insert the fitting

 

[bk406]

That Fernco fitting might not work. They are not rated for more than a few pounds of pressure. I'd replace the wall fitting with a PVC type connector. Use PVC out of the wall, then attach the PVC to the existing poly with a combination fitting (barbed one end, PVC on the other). Heat the poly for about a second with a torch, coat the barbed end with teflon pipe dope, then jam the fitting on the hot poly pipe. Secure it with double clamps. Then glue the PVC end to the new wall fitting.

 

[gworrel]

Thanks for the replies. Replacing the wall fitting is something I did not want to do. Leave well enough alone as they say. The wall fitting is embedded in the pool wall which would mean draining the pool low enough to work on it, chipping it out, replacing the fitting, patching with hydraulic cement, acid wash, TSP wash, paint with epoxy, wait 5 days to dry, refill pool. Not after I just spent most of the summer doing all too much of that. Only if absolutely necessary.

There seemed to be two reasonable options. I found the following stretch coupling at a local John Deere store:
http://www.amazon.com/Rain-Maid-Poly-St ... B002NLFW9I

They didn't have any in the right size at my local store and the closest was a 1/2 hour drive so I stopped at Home Depot and picked up a rubber sleeve fitting. I added a couple of extra clamps and here is the end result:

No leaks.
I have managed to put up with the non-standard fittings and made a custom fitting when I added a return line skimmer: