Drain king - plugged skimmer line?

[302harrison]

Hi! I am using a drain king to try to unclog my skimmer line. The reason I think it's clogged is because the pump won't prime. (It wasn't working right, and we realized the basket at the pump was full of debris. Thinking some of the debris also got into the ine.). Tried the drain king from the skimmer side, but nothing came into the pump basket and the pool still won't prime. When I try to use it on the pump side shooting water back down the skimmer line towards the pool, the bladder won't stay in place and comes shooting out of the pipe and back into the area I inserted it from. Is my drain king too big? Is it something to do with this circular clear area (see pic)? The drain king goes into this area when I insert it.

Thanks for any input and ask questions if I'm not making sense!

 

[mknauss]

You have a check valve on the suction side of the pump. You cannot push water from the pump to the skimmer without removing that check valve.

Have you checked the impeller on the pump for debris? With the pump powered off (at the breaker), see if the impeller has debris packed around it.

 

[302harrison]

Did not find any debris on the impeller. Should I take the cover off the check valve and remove it and then try to send water that way? I already tried it from the other direction, but then I read somewhere that that can make the clog worse and you need to come from the pump side towards the pool

 

[mknauss]

You can try that. I edited your Thread Title.

 

[302harrison]

Ok. Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

302,

Please let me see a pic of all the plumbing coming into your pump.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[302harrison]

We did remove the check valve and were able to run water through the drain king back towards the skimmer. We did the tennis ball trick to build up pressure, and a baby turtle came flying out into my husband's hand! We thought we had solved our issue, but the pump still won't prime. We tried the tennis ball trick again and nothing else came. Water makes its way around the ball and any other thing we try for blockage as the pressure builds, so we haven't been able to get a geyser of water to shoot out as I saw in one post. So I guess it's possible there's still a blockage?
When we try to prime the pump, we put the lid back on the basket and it pulls the water down when we turn on the pump, but then no water comes into the basket. Our pool is downhill from our equipment, so we tried waiting longer to see if it would prime, and the pump acted like it had primed as far as the settings, but still no water in the basket, or very little, so we turned it off for fear of burning up the motor.

 

[302harrison]

When I say, "acted like it primed," I mean it switched from priming to filtering on the control panel, but again, very little water in the basket.

 

[mknauss]

If you are getting a flow of water through the pipe, the pump should prime I would think. When was the last time you cleaned your filter?

 

[302harrison]

Just a month or so ago.

 

[302harrison]

The O Ring for the pump basket lid looks good, but I am going to pick up some lubricant for it and see if that helps.

 

[302harrison]

Lubricated the o-ring, but that didn't do the trick. Any other ideas, or is it time to call the pool guy?

 

[Jimrahbe]

302,

Did you remove the Jandy 3-way valve in front of the pump to make sure it is not full of leaves?

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[302harrison]

No. I wil try that. Thanks!