Drain plug

[Sn00py]

40y old pool…My main drain and aka hot tub drain are connected to the same line so I can’t control them separately. There is a spill over from hot tub to the pool and we are not using hot tub at all.

Can I plug hot tub drains? Wondering what will that do to the pipes?

 

[PoolGate]

I think you always want water circulation in both the pool and the spa. What advantage do you think you'd get if you could operate the spa separately?

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

Are you sure? I ask because that would be a very odd configuration.

Please show us several pics of your equipment pad, so we can see all the plumbing.

Do you plan to just drain the hot tub and leave it empty, or are you planning on just using it as a water feature and never as a hot tub??

If you never want to use the hot tub, as a hot tube, and still want water to flow over the spillway, you can plug the tub's floor drain if you want. It won't hurt anything but you'd never be able to use the hot tub without heating the whole pool.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sn00py]

Jim,yes I’m sure…. Everything about this pool is odd lol.
One valve control both drains and skimmer and one valve control returns to the hot tub and main pool. No heater. Looks like there used to be a gas heater years ago. They removed it and re-did things. Now I have only a solar heater for everything.
The problem with main drains I have is during the winter when it rains. I don’t have overflow so I have to drain pool manually when it rains.
Last year I drained the pool for about 10 inches (below skimmer level). I shut skimmer off and only left main drain on for circulation. What happened is, suction in hot tub was way stronger and drained it totally (even with a full returns on). Hut tub drains are closest to the pump…I did check the main drain and it has a suction.

So my idea was just to plug hot tub, send 20% of returns there and the rest to main pool.

Peter

 

[Sn00py]

Valves are set to Drain/skimmer 80/20, returns to the pool and skimmer 80/20

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

The valve in front of the pump should either suck water from the Spa or suck water from the Pool.. It makes more sense that your main drain is plumbed into the bottom of your skimmer. Look under your skimmer basket and tell us how many open holes you see..

The valve after the SWCG should send all the water back to the Pool or Spa.. When in the Pool mode, if you don't fully put the valve in the pool mode, it will allow a little water to go to the spa, causing it to spillover into your pool.

As a test, close off the pipe that you believe is your skimmer, and close off the pipe that sends water back to the pool and tell us what happens. In 'theory, the spa should work and the pump should run as normal.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sn00py]

In skimmer basket only one hole is open. Second one is plugged.

I will test main drain suction agin and report findings. I think it should work, it’s on a deep end of the pool 9ft and I think when I tested year ago it did has suction. …

If I close skimmer and return to pool, pump is working normally, hot tub water level rises and start spilling over the edge into the pool.

 

[Sn00py]

Soo…. Jim you are correct. The front valve suck from the pool or just from the hot tub bottom drain.
On the front valve I closed the hot tub. Pump was sucking water from a skimmer. I dived to the bottom drain in the pool and checked again. No suction, drain pipe is open and not plugged, no water movement (don’t ask me why I was sure there was water movement before). Second hole in the skimmer is plugged from the bottom. I don’t know what they did.

Eventually I will have to redo a patio concrete around the skimmer and will open to see what’s going on there. I don’t know how else to check why main drain is not sucking water.

Good thing is I don’t have a leak(did a bucket test few times)

Well….

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

Most all old pools had the main drain plumbed into the bottom of the skimmer.. but... when plumbed that way, both holes in the skimmer are open, The hole near the water is plumbed to the main drain and the other hole is plumbed back to the equipment pad.

The good news is that no one actually needs a main drain. There are thousands and thousands of pools where the main drain is plumbed into the skimmer. For the main drain to work, there has to be a floating diverter valve under the skimmer basket. My 'guess' is this diverter is missing in 80% of these pools and the pool owners never even know their main drain is not even work...

It is pretty difficult to 'feel' the flow into the main drain... The only way to tell if there is flow, or not, is to put something thin over the main drain and see if it gets sucked down against the main drain cover.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sn00py]

Tried that l, doesn’t suck anything As said one hole in skimmer is plugged from the bottom so I’m wondering where is/was the pool main drain plumbed to?

Looks like I’ll have to find a pool company to figure this out or just leave as is

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

Why do you need a main drain at all???

I have two rent house pools that do not have an operating main drain and they work just fine.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Sn00py]

Only during the winter if I lower the water level below the skimmer level to have some cushion during the rainy month. Not a big deal even if I have pump off for that month, I was just wondering why is there and not working