Clogged Main Drain and Raised Spa Drain

epunz

New member
Jul 25, 2024
2
Ft. Lauderdale, FL
I just had my pool diamond brite resurfaced. Unfortunately, I went cheap and hired a sub that a friend recommended. Turns out he really didn't know much about pools but only knew how to do the resurfacing (#1 reason to always hire a contractor and not his subs). After the resurfacing was finished I had a huge leak. At least he admitted not knowing how to fix and asked one of the pool builders he subs for to find it. It was on my 2 floor returns. Repair guy tells me I don't really need and capped off and cuts and caps pipe at equipment.

After I refilled pool, I find my main drain and spa drain is clogged. I decided to tackle myself instead of waiting for repair guy. I take off main drain cover and find it is completely sealed off with diamond brite (see picture of everything I chipped out). I used a toilet auger to break thru the rest of the diamond brite that sealed lower in the pipe. I sent the repair guy a picture and asked him why the sub would do that and he says because he probably never saw my kind of drain. I have a Paramount MDX 2.5 debris drain. Does anyone have experience with this kind of drain? My question is when I opened the cover their was the main drain which I unclogged but there was another openning that I believe goes to a safety drain that is on my pool wall that I could not pass the auger through. Is this a big deal?

My second question is now I have to do the same to the raised spa drain. However, the screws are all covered with diamond brite. How can I get the diamond brite off the screws? I've tried scraping but its not easy.
 

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I just had my pool diamond brite resurfaced. Unfortunately, I went cheap and hired a sub that a friend recommended. Turns out he really didn't know much about pools but only knew how to do the resurfacing (#1 reason to always hire a contractor and not his subs). After the resurfacing was finished I had a huge leak. At least he admitted not knowing how to fix and asked one of the pool builders he subs for to find it. It was on my 2 floor returns. Repair guy tells me I don't really need and capped off and cuts and caps pipe at equipment.

After I refilled pool, I find my main drain and spa drain is clogged. I decided to tackle myself instead of waiting for repair guy. I take off main drain cover and find it is completely sealed off with diamond brite (see picture of everything I chipped out). I used a toilet auger to break thru the rest of the diamond brite that sealed lower in the pipe. I sent the repair guy a picture and asked him why the sub would do that and he says because he probably never saw my kind of drain. I have a Paramount MDX 2.5 debris drain. Does anyone have experience with this kind of drain? My question is when I opened the cover their was the main drain which I unclogged but there was another openning that I believe goes to a safety drain that is on my pool wall that I could not pass the auger through. Is this a big deal?

My second question is now I have to do the same to the raised spa drain. However, the screws are all covered with diamond brite. How can I get the diamond brite off the screws? I've tried scraping but its not easy.
Update: I was able to remove spa drain and both my main drain and spa drain are now unclogged. I've included a picture of all the diamond brite I got out of there. So the other opening next to the main drain and next to the spa drain, does not appear to have suction. Is this normal? Also their is a plastic fitting pictued below that is slightly damaged, will this be a big deal when I re-install?
 

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So the other opening next to the main drain and next to the spa drain, does not appear to have suction. Is this normal? Also their is a plastic fitting pictued below that is slightly damaged, will this be a big deal when I re-install?
I can tag @Jimrahbe for that question. He may know.
 
E,

Sorry, but I have not seen that plastic device, and have no idea what it could be..

Suction wise... Normally there is a single pipe that goes to two drains and two drain covers.. Depending on the plumbing, you may feel more suction on one of the drain covers than the other.. What is important is that the suction can't hold anything down..

As an example.. if you only had one drain, and you put a thin sheet of plastic over it, the plastic would immediately be sucked down against the drain cover and it would be almost impossible for you to remove it.. But.. when you have two drains connected together, and you cover one of them, all the water just flows through the other cover, and the plastic sheet will pull right up.

The whole point of having dual drain covers is so that no one can get trapped under water by the suction from drains.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
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