Pool Closing Help

dmmincrjr · Oct 14, 2012

This is my first time trying to close my pool and am bumping into a couple issues and would appreciate some guidance.

When I attempted to close my pool I connected my compressor to the pump drain plug and pushed air into the system. I have 2 skimmers, 3 returns, and a main drain. I do not lower the water.

The skimmers blew out first, one then the other. I put a gizmo in however I was getting a small stream of bubbles which to me was indicating I wasn't getting a tight seal. I took the gizmo out and applied more teflon tape and began the process again. I still was not able to get a tight seal after applying what I thought was an excess of teflon tape. When the pool company closed the pool last year it looks like they had electrical tape on the threads to act as a sealer instead of the teflon tape. I am assuming they did not have any bubbles so is there some type of special teflon tape that needs to be used that is a little thicker than what you get at home depot to create a tighter seal or a special way to wrap the threads?

Even though I was getting some bubbles from around my gizmos my returns started blowing air (again 1 at a time). I tried to use the rubber plugs with the wing nut that I took out last spring but two still leaked when I could not turn the wing nut any tighter. I plan to go out and get 3 sp1022c plugs to use in there place and hopefully it will resolve that problem. I plan to use some teflon tape, a little gasket lube and screw them in. The rubber plugs are I guess a couple years old so I am assuming they are prone to this type of failure.

Since I did not trust that I had a tight seal on everything I took out the gizmos and plugs until I could get the new parts. I had cleaned my DE filter and and did not want to put more DE into the system when I am in closing mode so I kept the Pentair SM-20-3 Multi Port valve in recirculate mode and started the system back up. I just wanted to be able to keep the water moving in case we got some chilly temperatures while I was getting parts so the system would kick in to prevent the pipes from freezing. Everything seemed to work fine until I went back to check on things about an hour later and the waste port was dripping water. Is this common when the Multi Port valve stays in recirculate or did I do something when blowing out the lines to create a problem? I had my compressor turned up to about 80 or 90 psi but it never really achieved that pressure as the compressor was running continuously but only showing about 20 psi on the compressor output gauge. However the Multi Port has never leaked out the waste so I am not sure what is going on. I turned everything off for the night and figured I would come here for some advise.

Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

Bama Rambler · Oct 15, 2012

What did the filter pressure gauge read while you were blowing the system and what did you have the multiport on?

You could have created the leak when switching the valve around. How old is the valve? Has it ever been rebuilt?

The valve might not have seated well when you set it on recirc. You can wiggle it a little and even rotate it through the settings and see if it'll seal off.

Depending on the pressure you put on the system, seeing a few bubbles at the skimmers and return might not have been a problem. Air leaks out a whole lot easier than water can leak in.

dmmincrjr · Oct 15, 2012

I had the Multi Port valve in recirculate when I was blowing the lines so the pressure gauge on the DE filter was on zero.

The valve is only a couple years old from when the pool was installed in 2010. It has not been rebuilt.

I'll try rotating it through the settings to see if stops the leak. I never moved the valve after attempting to blow the lines so maybe that is part of the problem.

I was still getting bubbles from the return plugs after I depressurized the pipes so really would not feel comfortable leaving it that way over the winter. Hopefully some new plugs and thicker teflon tape will fix the issues.

Bama Rambler · Oct 16, 2012

If you were getting bubbles after depressurization then water was leaking into the piping and replacing air. Proper plugs should solve the problem.

dmmincrjr · Oct 17, 2012

Well I got the pool closed yesterday using the sp1022c plugs on the returns. Really had to tighten them down more than I thought to get bubbles to stop on a couple as I needed to use a screw driver shaft to get some leverage to tighten. Went real slow tightening as I didn't want to break anything so hopefully it will be good come spring. The Gizzmo's finally sealed as well as I ended up using some heavy duty teflon tape I found at Home Depot. Much easier to work with as it is a little thicker than the white tape but still had to put more tape on threads than I thought would be required as I had to take Gizzmo's out while under pressure and add a little more tape. I also think I need to look at my Multi Port valve as I had it on recirculate when closing and had some water come out of the discharge port. I am guessing the spider gasket might not be seated correctly. It was weird as before I closed the pool I ran my pump on speed 3 and speed 4 and no water leaked out the discharge after about a 15 to 20 minutes on each setting. When I dropped it down to speed 2 the drip returned after about a minute. After the pool was closed I did switch the valve to filter and brought the pressure up to 10 psi on the DE tank to check for leaks at the returns and skimmers and couldn't feel any air coming out of the discharge port on the Multi Port so maybe it is just in recirculate that I would have an issue.

cigarjak73 · Oct 24, 2012

Exact same situation, here. I just blew out my pool for the first time ever using a compressor. Everything went perfectly as I plugged up all the returns and closed off all the valves. After setting the multiport to backwash and blowing out the backwash piping, I turned off the compressor and switched the multiport back to filter. Interestingly, I head a good amount of water moving through the piping near the pump and filter. What was that?

After setting the multiport to filter, I checked the gizmos (I had wrapped the threads several times with thin teflon tape from Home Depot. I too am seeing a small amount of air bubbles rising up along the gizmos in each skimmer. What's interesting is that I did not see air bubbles rising from the skimmer plug after I screwed down the gizmos). Can I remove the gizmos without de-pressurizing the entire pool? I don't see why not, since the drain valves are closed and all the returns are plugged. I assume I can just remove the gizmos, wrap more teflon tape around the threads, blow out the skimmer lines (with the skimmer valve set to OPEN), re-plug the skimmers with the skimmers, close the skimmer valve, and I should be all set. Agreed?

dmmincrjr · Oct 24, 2012

I had some water end up back in my DE tank after I blew out the lines and am not exactly sure where it came from either as I had the Multi Port on recirculate when I blew lines and had already drained the DE tank. I assumed it might have been because my spider gasket was not seated correctly and allowed water into the DE tank. I only put it on filter to know what my system pressure was when I did a 10 psig leak check at returns and skimmers and at that point everything was capped so no water should have been able to get back into the system. I drained the DE tank again and got a good bit of water so I would check that again and make sure it is empty as one of the last steps.

As far as blowing out the skimmers again I think your plan makes sense. I would probably have the system slightly pressurized though and only remove one gizzmo at a time so you are not able to introduce water anyplace else. Just be careful as the gizzmo can shoot off when you get to the last threads if you have too much pressure. Then keep that skimmer bubbling while you retape. Also if you have an extra gizzmo maybe have that ready with lots of tape and just replace quickly. I did have the same issue where I thought the gizzmo was seated tightly after screwing it in but when I went back to check later I was getting a stream of bubbles like maybe 1 per second. It took a little fiddling of turning slightly but it finally did seat with no bubbles. If you can't get it to seat maybe use a sp1022c plug and then put an old soda bottle with some stones to weigh it down in the skimmer for the ice to crush.

I also took the top off my Multi Port to check my spider gasket and see if that was what was causing my leakage. The gasket was well seated and seemed in good shape to me so I just put some magic lube on the top of the gasket and screwed the top back down. If it still leaks I'll just deal with it in the spring but it was not working as I expected.