Air Compressor Chosen/OK???

[ajw22]

From

Do we care about air leaking from Jandy valve?

First time closing my pool. I have a Vinyl liner so I'm only draining to about a 1/4 way up the skimmer, builder doesn't want me draining any lower. Blew out the 3 returns with my shop vac, got great bubbles from each and plugged each of them one at a time. Could see small bubbles upon plugging...

www.troublefreepool.com

Couldn't blow my drain (2 ports in bottom of deep end) out so I got a 6 gallon Ridgid compressor from HD. Plugged up all the drains in the equipment except for the pump, pushed air in thru the pump drain. 15 psi and 2 minutes later I had good bubbles coming out of each. Shut main drain and turned off compressor.

 

[JamesW]

 

[JamesW]

 

[Mendy48]

Ok! all the systems plugs are back in (heater, chlorinator, filter pump, and sand filter.
I placed the air compressor where the gauge pressure is. This is where the pool store puts the air compressor.
Multivalve on "re-circulate".
main drain opened to blow air in.
Started the air compressor (not sure what the tank pressure and outlet pressure should be at)

 

[JamesW]

That should work.

I would have left the multiport on "Filter".

Recirculate should work, but it tends to leak to waste more than if you use the "filter" position.

I would have used the pump drain plug, but the gauge hole should work.

You can leave the skimmer valve open if the lines are plugged.

As things bubble, just plug the lines.

When the main drain bubbles, close the valve and shut off the compressor.

 

[Mendy48]

That should work.

I would have left the multiport on "Filter".

Recirculate should work, but it tends to leak to waste more than if you use the "filter" position.

I would have used the pump drain plug, but the gauge hole should work.

You can leave the skimmer valve open if the lines are plugged.

As things bubble, just plug the lines.

When the main drain bubbles, close the valve and shut off the compressor.

It worked. As soon as I put all the drain holes back, it worked. However, the strangest thing is that that it wouldn't work on a low psi ... like 5-10. I had to gradually increase the psi to almost 20 to see the main drain bubbles coming out. once I saw that, I closed the main drain and opened up the skimmer, and bubbles started coming out of the skimmer and water also started pouring from the return jets.

So my question is why wouldn't it work at a lower psi?

I also couldn't get my hose all the way in the return jet to pour the anti-freeze. I got some in there, but I guess that would have to do. The pool store never used antifreeze and never drained my pool. I drained my pool, put antifreeze in the skimmer with a gizmo and some noodles. tried to put some in the return jet, but I was only able to get very little in there.

Put the multivalve on "winter", and closed off/and shut off the pool heater and shut down the breaker.

 

[JamesW]

Sounds like you got it done.



Make sure to remove all drain plugs from the equipment to allow any residual water to drain out.

 

[Mendy48]

Sounds like you got it done.



Make sure to remove all drain plugs from the equipment to allow any residual water to drain out.

Yes I did.

 

[TexEdmond]

my question is why wouldn't it work at a lower psi?

Because the air must push harder on the water than the water pushes on the air.

 

[JamesW]

8 feet is about 3.5 psi, so it only takes a little bit more.

If the water is lowered, then it takes even less pressure.

If the main drain is 7 feet below the surface of the water, then it only takes 3 psi.

Anything over 5 psi should have cleared the line.

You get some pressure buildup of a few psi as the water is being pushed out.

So, maybe 5 to 7 psi to account for pushing the water.

Maybe the regulator is not very accurate.

 

[Mendy48]

8 feet is about 3.5 psi, so it only takes a little bit more.

If the water is lowered, then it takes even less pressure.

If the main drain is 7 feet below the surface of the water, then it only takes 3 psi.

Anything over 5 psi should have cleared the line.

You get some pressure buildup of a few psi as the water is being pushed out.

So, maybe 5 to 7 psi to account for pushing the water.

Maybe the regulator is not very accurate.

Interesting. I think the regulator was not accurate cause I thought I was doing something wrong. It wasn’t until I pushed up the psi to 30 that bubbles started coming out of main drain. Something was definitely off. I immediately shut then main drain valve when I saw the bubbles. I may return this air compressor. Nevertheless, I was finally able to close my pool. Thanks everyone for your help on this task.

 

[Newdude]

I think the regulator was not accurate cause I thought I was doing something wrong

It’s a budget model. There is a reason why you can spend 3X on a pancake model with the same specs.

But it worked, so WOOHOO !!!!!