Booster pump endless draining

[HGalindo]

Hi there. I’m trying to save as much of my equipment as I can in this Texas freeze. I’ve drained the main pump and am trying to drain the cleaner booster, but it’s just running forever. It’s got some sort of siphon action happening and I can’t figure out how to fix it. Attached is a pic of my system. The yellow pipe says Cleaner, red says Returns. The chlorine stack at the top is a giant block of ice, so I’m suspicious of that, and the valve at the top of the Returns pipe won’t turn. The pipe next to it is Bubbler. Any idea what’s causing it to just drain and drain based on looking at this? Really don’t want to destroy this pump but also don’t want to empty my pool in the street.

 

[ajw22]

Is your equipment above or below the water level?

If the equipment is below the water level you need to plug the return lines.

 

[HGalindo]

It’s a little downhill but the main pump stopped draining once I figured out to take the pump basket lid off to stop the siphon action and shut the actuator for the main drain to Off, so I don’t think that’s it.

 

[ajw22]

Stick potatoes in the return outlets and cleaner outlet. Yeah, the water will be cold.

Is the water coming into the pump from the yellow or red side?

 

[HGalindo]

So it’s sucking in from the returns, is what you’re saying. I ended up just plugging it back up. We don’t have any potatoes but I appreciate the ingenuity! I suspect we’ll just have to take this as a $$ lesson. I’m surprised there’s not a thorough post about this situation on the forum already. “Remove the drain plugs and open the valves” definitely isn’t enough information by a long shot.

 

[ajw22]

Yeah, the assumption is most folks equipment is sitting above the waterline and not a problem. The waterline is below the ground level by a few inches. So if the equipment is sitting on the ground level with the pool it is not a problem.

 

[wireform]

So it’s sucking in from the returns, is what you’re saying. I ended up just plugging it back up. We don’t have any potatoes but I appreciate the ingenuity! I suspect we’ll just have to take this as a $$ lesson. I’m surprised there’s not a thorough post about this situation on the forum already. “Remove the drain plugs and open the valves” definitely isn’t enough information by a long shot.

We don't know the direction of your system and now with snow and an over abundance of freezing problems this would be the best case scenario for now other than havinga good understanding for your plumbing. You can't have a specific thread on your system unless one was started by you. Best of luck.