Draining Pool 101 Help

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mpride

mpride

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May 23, 2008
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Sugar Land Texas
I need to repair a small gash in my plaster where a chair was blown into the pool. I will need to drain water below the level of the skimmers and I’m not exactly sure how to accomplish this. I see that some folks use a submersible pump to do this. However, I’d like to use the pool pump if possible. The problem is that my main drain is tied into one of my 2 skimmers. I’ve read that you can purchase a diverter to bypass the skimmer and allow water to be pulled through the main drain only. But when I started looking at diverters there were many different types and I’m not sure what to purchase.

So here are my questions:

1) Am I on the right track or is there a better way to accomplish the repair of the plaster?
2) Should I just go ahead and buy a submersible pump? Is this the preferred method of draining the pool?
3) How do I determine the type of diverter I need? Is there a way to identify the type of skimmer I have?

Thanks for your help on this!
 
Buford said:
Can you plug the skimmer/main drain hole with a plug or gizzmo?
Click to expand...

There are 2 openings in each skimmer. Which would I plug in order to shut off the skimmer and leave the main drain connected to the pump?

Also,
I found a part number on the skimmer lid. It shows Hayward SP1071 or SP 1071S.
 
Melt In The Sun said:
Looks like you need part SP1070FV.
Click to expand...

Great. So this will allow me to close off the skimmer and leave the main running?

When I do this I plan to shut off the other skimmer with the valve at the equipment pad and then I'll place this float valve in the other skimmer. If that sounds wrong let me know.

Thanks for your help "Melt In The Sun".
 
mpride said:
Buford said:
Can you plug the skimmer/main drain hole with a plug or gizzmo?
Click to expand...

There are 2 openings in each skimmer. Which would I plug in order to shut off the skimmer and leave the main drain connected to the pump?

Also,
I found a part number on the skimmer lid. It shows Hayward SP1071 or SP 1071S.
Click to expand...

IMHO Melt's solution is the best. But to answer your question, it depends on how the contractor hooked it up, on mine, it is the opening closest to the pool. In my case, I just closed the skimmer valve (at the equipment pad) and the hole still sucking was the drain. I just use a 1.5" pvc plug from home depot or a gizzmo (whatever is handy). You could also use a rubber freeze plug or a rubber ball (but knowing my luck, it would get sucked in). There was also a cover on mine, that disappeared a while ago (SP-1082-H-1) that was for restricting the flow.
 
Thanks for all the info guys. You always come through for me.

I was curious about something. I assume when I had the pool built I probably should have had them run the main drain all the way back to the pump without going through one of the skimmers. Would that be the best way to have plumbed it?
 
Okay.
I just started the drain process and everything was going smoothly until the water level dropped below the level of the skimmers. I had 1 of 2 skimmers turned off with a valve on the equipment pad. I setup the float valve on the other skimmer that also supports my main drain. Once the water level uncovered the skimmers I was no longer pumping much water out of the pool. The float valve had been very securely seated against the o-ring in the bottom of the skimmer but then started to float. I also checked by hand and the suction seemed very weak.

What is happening here that I'm missing? Is my main drain clogged? Is something else happening? Should I just give up and buy a submersible pump?
 
It is much better if the main drain is plumbed back the equipment pad. That gives you more flexibility and better system efficiency.

The approach you are using requires that the float valve be perfect, which is unlikely in practice.

Here is one alternative. However this won't work unless you add a little water, as it is tricky to get started. I would hook a vacuum hose up to one skimmer and put the other end in the bottom of the pool. Then setup a cover pump or sump pump to pump water up to the skimmer that has the vacuum hose hooked up so the vacuum hose connections are under water all the time. Once you get that started it will run well.

One thing to keep in mind either way: once you go below the skimmer it isn't possible to stop and then get started again. Once the pump loses prime with the water level below the skimmer it is unlikely it will be able to prime again until you raise the water level.
 

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macgulley said:
My pool is on a hill so I was able to start a siphon with the vacuum hose. Is that something you could do?
Click to expand...

I had to drain my AGP to drop the CYA level. Took a shop vac with a 1" hose and added two extensions from my household vacuum. Put the tip of the extensions near the bottom, and fired the vacuum up. Once the suction started, I disconnected the hose from the drum, and the siphon kept the flow going. I took the 3" corrugated tubing left over from my rainwater fill project (thank you Richar320) to carry the water away from the pool and towards the storm sewer at the corner of my property.

My back of the napkin math came up with well over 1500 GPH using nothing but good old fashioned physics.
 
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