Any options other than a cracked pipe?

[trishalinn]

Alright, I looked over the pictures and I have the multi-valve.

I believe the clog is primarily in the main drain, but I think the skimmer line is partly clogged as well. There is hardly any suction at the bottom of the pool at the main drain and the suction at the skimmer line isn't as strong as it was in the past. There is currently dirt on the floor near the main drain. This is our first year in this house and when we opened the pool there was lots of debris (sticks, leaves, and who knows what else) on the bottom of the pool floor. The pool was quite a mess.

I am going to go on amazon and order one of the in line leaf catchers right away! Thanks for the heads up on that.

 

[geekgranny]

Alright, I looked over the pictures and I have the multi-valve.

I believe the clog is primarily in the main drain, but I think the skimmer line is partly clogged as well. There is hardly any suction at the bottom of the pool at the main drain and the suction at the skimmer line isn't as strong as it was in the past. There is currently dirt on the floor near the main drain. This is our first year in this house and when we opened the pool there was lots of debris (sticks, leaves, and who knows what else) on the bottom of the pool floor. The pool was quite a mess.

I am going to go on amazon and order one of the in line leaf catchers right away! Thanks for the heads up on that.

The inline leaf catcher will be a great addition. On my Hayward I couldn't figure out how to attach it to my one length vacuum hose though, without using adapters. It fits perfectly in line with my sectional vac hose that came with the Pool Cleaner hose. Hopefully someone will comment on this.

Now for the clogs. Did you have the right sized drain king?. When I did mine, at the pump basket I had to work it in to the hole that comes from the suction side pipes via a 3-way vavle (coming from skimmer and main drain).

Also, this is where your Jandy type 3-way valve would be if you have one. One pipe will come out of the ground into one side of the valve with a second, coming out of ground into the valve. Then one pipe comes out of valve and goes into the pump pot. The 3-way valve has 4 positions. 1 for both main and skimmer open, 1 for just main, 1 for skimmer, 1 closed. This is the valve I manipulated in loosening up the clog in my main drain.

Some pools have the main drain connected at the skimmer and then they go straight into the pump pot with only one pipe. Sometimes there is a valve before the pipe goes into the pump pot, some don't. I have to have valves because all my equipment is below the pool so that is the only way to keep water from running out of the system doing any work or cleaning out the pump pot. I'm not real familiar with the main drain into skimmer set up and how you would go about restricting the main and/or the skimmer. Perhaps someone will give some ideas.

gg=alice

 

[trishalinn]

I do have the right size drain king. I haven't had any problems getting it into where it needs to go. We worked on it yesterday and got the pressure back up to around 10psi, but this afternoon it's down to 7. Maybe we just need to keep working on it a little every day? I do want to dive down to the bottom and stick the drain king in the main drain, but it's been TOO cold here in Michigan to get in the pool. Monday it's supposed to warm up so maybe the beginning of this next week I try it. We'll see how it goes I guess!

 

[geekgranny]

Did you figure out if the main drain has a separate pipe going to the pumping station or is it combined with the skimmer pipe, at the skimmer. I don't know how you would do this if the main drain goes through the skimmer but if it is separate you could do as described below.

I'm wondering if you could use some kind of instrument to close the skimmer, right at the skimmer. It would have to be something that you could be sure wouldn't get sucked down into the pipe. I'll bet someone here knows of something you could use. Maybe an expandable return fitting used for closing down pools, in winter, up north.

Anyone know of something?

I can't remember why I used it but way back I used an expandable return fitting to close off my skimmer for some reason. Maybe when a new valve or something was put in. (My pumping station is "flooded" meaning it is below pool so you have to have valves to shut off the water flow when doing certain work on the pumping station.)

You could shut off the pump, do a drain king session from pump pot. Then put pump pot back, priming if necessary, put stopper in skimmer, and then start pump up for a few seconds. Stop pump, wait a few seconds, then start pump up again. Of course you wouldn't want to run it very long if the pressure goes way up at filter.

Then repeat the whole process several times. This may help to dislodge the clog in main drain pipe.

Is there a drain cover on the main drain? If there isn't there could be a possibility of rocks, or other hard material, in the drain pipe. I had that issue when the drain cover was left off. They did not cause a totally closed drain but did catch other debris to form a bigger clog. As I said earlier, I did have some rocks, but over time they did dissolve enough, in addition to my months of "working on the clog", that they finally cleared out. There are lots of things that can get hung up in a pipe even if there is a drain cover in place, especially the old type covers with big slits.

It was amazing how the little rubber, Bic lighter cover stopped the flow at my vacuum Pool Cleaner opening. It was lodged there "just right", so that the vac hose collapsed, and then fell out when I turned the pump off.

gg=alice

 

[trishalinn]

Did you figure out if the main drain has a separate pipe going to the pumping station or is it combined with the skimmer pipe, at the skimmer. I don't know how you would do this if the main drain goes through the skimmer but if it is separate you could do as described below.

I am pretty certain it does have a separate pipe.

Is there a drain cover on the main drain? If there isn't there could be a possibility of rocks, or other hard material, in the drain pipe. I had that issue when the drain cover was left off. They did not cause a totally closed drain but did catch other debris to form a bigger clog. As I said earlier, I did have some rocks, but over time they did dissolve enough, in addition to my months of "working on the clog", that they finally cleared out. There are lots of things that can get hung up in a pipe even if there is a drain cover in place, especially the old type covers with big slits.
gg=alice

No, I don't think there is a drain cover. We're able to shove the drain king right down into the main drain.

We were gone over the weekend and came back to only 5psi. We worked on the pipe some, had it up to 9psi. Worked on it some more and then it was at 4 psi. Worked on it some more and now it's bouncing up and down between 6-9psi. I'm really frustrated with this!

 

[JohnT]

My thought would be to try a high volume of reverse flow back through the skimmer. You could possibly re-plumb what you have or borrow a different pump. The flow from a pool pump is much greater than a hose, and might get the job done.

 

[trishalinn]

I have no idea how we would do that. We are such pool rookies.

 

[trishalinn]

Alright, so my husband had an idea. He recalled in the fall when we moved in and had the pool company come close up our pool that they hooked an air compressor up to the pump and blew the water out of each of the lines. My dad has an air compressor that we could borrow. Would doing this ourselves help break up a clog? If so, do you have any recommendations or tips on how to do this? Thanks for everyones help and ideas so far!

 

[bk406]

The air compressors the pool guys use are not like the ones that most people have. They use compressors that are pretty low pressure, but high CFM ( that means they dont have a lot of pressure, but blow a lot of air). The typical compressor that homeowners have my not move enough air to do what you want to do.
My advice, since you have been messing with this for over a month, is to call around to some real pool service companies and see what they say and let someone look at it. I know you had one out and they charged you a service call and were not much help. But...I would call a few service companies in the area and see if they would diagnose the issue and actually fix it. You could be having trouble with this all summer and still be pulling your hair out come fall. Its a clog someplace. A good service comapny can either snake this out, or blow it out with a proper compressor. Just my 2 cents.