DIY Return lines replacement

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stryfer33

0
Jul 7, 2016
55
Londonderry/NH
Hey all,
There is a good chance I will be attempting this job myself. Contractors are terrible about getting back to me and the one guy I had lined up just pushed me back a couple of weeks due to equipment failure.

Heres the issue:
Was losing a lot of water last season and had my liner checked for leaks. - No issue.
Early this month, I had the piping tested and found leaks in all 3 of my return lines. Pool was built at the time of the house so piping is 30+ years old and is the black poly (I believe).

All my piping is 1.5" and I have a simple setup. Pump, sand filter, 1 skimmer, main drain, and 3 returns.

My plan is to dig around my pool skirt which is all dirt/grass currently and lay new pipe in the ground. I plan to also replace my skimmer line only because one of my return lines will run directly past it and don't want it to become a future problem. Main drain I am not touching.

My questions are:
When it's time to connect the new return to the old/existing return in the pool, should I replace the whole return fitting? Or cut back a foot or so and make connection to new pipe? Also, can the returns be piped horizontal? Or do i have to dig down just before and put a 90 to go up and a 90 to go horizontal to pool?

Also, when I pipe my returns from the filter, I want to make a manifold of sorts for the return lines to isolate each one. Is there a valve that will split 1 pipe into 3 more? Or just make a line with a tee that has a valve after each, and a second tee?
piping.png
I assume there is a better way to do this, but cant think of it now.

Also, I have a concrete skirt that is about 3.5-4" inches thick. Is it difficult to cut, repair small areas to replace the pipes?

Sorry for the length of this.
Any questions/ideas will greatly be appreciated. Thank you!
 
The issue with digging under the skirt is going to be possible collapse during your repairs or after a big rain. You can never truly pack in the substrate so it will hold up. If you have grass around the skirting, I would cut chop out the old skimmer and where the returns are, replace, run trenches back to your pad, then substrate and concrete in those new sections. Personally I would redo the returns, poly to pvc requires hose clamps and we all how they love to loosen off.
 
Pool_Medic said:
The issue with digging under the skirt is going to be possible collapse during your repairs or after a big rain. You can never truly pack in the substrate so it will hold up. If you have grass around the skirting, I would cut chop out the old skimmer and where the returns are, replace, run trenches back to your pad, then substrate and concrete in those new sections. Personally I would redo the returns, poly to pvc requires hose clamps and we all how they love to loosen off.
Click to expand...

What do you mean by substrate?
 
I don't plan to just dig under the concrete. I plan to make cuts into it and remove a 4 inch wide or so section.. I want to run the lines in the grass, and cut into concrete to run lines under, then re-concrete over the top. Obviously pack down the earth and gravel underneath. Is there any special concrete/expansion material to use for something like this?
 
Substrate is the gravel and crusher dust under the concrete. You just can’t pack it back good enough to hold up the new concrete or any old piece. I thought you were doing the skimmer plus three returns? Cutting out will do fine. Are you using solid or spa flex?
 

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104641
Started trenching for one of the return lines today, currently sitting at about 19 inches with a couple of large rocks in my path.
Should I go up and over them and lose some depth in the isolated spots? Or just lessen my trench to 12" or so?

My plan is to lay the cheap bricks underneath the piping spaced every 4 feet or so (mainly to use my level) and fill all space under the pipe and cover with gravel. Probably about 4 inches of gravel all together. Then back fill the trench with all the dirt I pulled out. I figure this will give good support for the PVC.
Does this seem like a good idea, or is it simply too much? This run will be 40 or so feet?

Thanks everyone.
 
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