DIY Vacuum to Waste?

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treyragno

Well-known member
Oct 21, 2017
62
Corpus Christi, TX, USA
Pool Size
13865
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
my pump and filtration system has no option to vacuum to waste.

I was thinking to add a 3-way valve to my pump discharge side and use some sort of fitting to attach a 1.5-2”” flat hose, or similar. This would allow me to vacuum to the hose and direct it to my sewer drain.

Has anyone done something like this and have specific hardware/piping recommendations, advice, etc?
 
treyragno said:
I assume a regular garden hose is insufficient size for the pump output volume.
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If you need to remove small debris like sand, small particles, etc, remove water, or have a way to spray around the pad, a spigot for a garden hose is fine. You can plaice a "T" coupler in there with a female threaded hole for the spigot. We see those here quite often. But if you needed to remove a lot of water quickly or vacuum a lot of heavy gunk from the pool floor, it might be a little small.
 
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Texas Splash said:
If you need to remove small debris like sand, small particles, etc, remove water, or have a way to spray around the pad, a spigot for a garden hose is fine. You can plaice a "T" coupler in there with a female threaded hole for the spigot. We see those here quite often. But if you needed to remove a lot of water quickly or vacuum a lot of heavy gunk from the pool floor, it might be a little small.
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We have had our pool pump out of order for 3 weeks and the pool is a mess. I know vacuuming is needing to be done (we brush and put bleach and muriatic in) but once the motor is replaced we will vacuum.

What constitutes heavy gunk? Is algae likely to go through the garden hose ok?
 
treyragno said:
What constitutes heavy gunk? Is algae likely to go through the garden hose ok?
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While a 3-way valve would be ideal, you should be okay just for algae and light stuff. People who close their pool over the winter or just purchased a foreclosed home can have very heavy stuff on the floor that they can't see, so that's one example where a 3-way valve would be better. In your case it sounds as though you've been staying on top of things, so if you elect to go the spigot rout it should be okay.
 
I found some examples of the spigot. Remember though that unlike a true 3-way valve, the spigot method doesn't close-off the line going to the filter, so water and some debris can still get to the filter. With a 3-way valve, you are able to shut-off the line completely to the filter and push it all out to waste and at a much larger volume of water.





 
Too funny. For 15 years, I never knew what that spigot was for. Now I do! I just went through a situation with cedar elm tree seeds and REALLY wanted a vacuum to waste option. At least I now know that I have a partial option and where to install the valve if I want to do it the right way. Ideally, I’d want it to vacuum out to the same place my backwash valve goes to, which would require some creative plumbing.
 
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