Help With Blowing Lines/Winterizing

[Rex D.]

Hello TFP!

First, I want to say thank you to this community. Bought my house 4 years ago not knowing a thing about pool care and thanks to TFP I opened my pool for the first time this year and had crystal clear water all summer while seeing a huge drop in $$$ spent on chemicals (not to mention saving $700 for pool store opening/closing it). The kids got a ton of use which is a big win for Mom and Dad.

Now comes the part I’m most nervous about – closing the pool – most specifically blowing out the lines and winterizing them. I have a 20,000-gallon plaster finished gunite pool with two skimmers and a main drain. I’m including pictures below of my setup. Any advice on how I should go about blowing out the lines and anti-freezing them would be amazing. I reviewed Closing an In Ground Pool , which was super helpful with a lot of my questions, but I’m still not 100% on blowing out the lines. The guide seem to indicate blowing from the skimmers/out the returns but I recall the guys closing previous years blowing from either the returns or pump area out of the skimmers. Any other advice would be great as well as if anyone has a recommendation for a reliable cyclone blower?

 

[Newdude]

if anyone has a recommendation for a reliable cyclone blower?

Just the cyclone. Another member just bit the bullet after having so-so results and reported it was a 'game changer'. It's been said a great many times before too.

There's some trial amd error but it quickly makes sense when a guyser shoots out the other end. Then it's just a matter of cycling all the valves one at a time to get all the legs. If you blow one of them twice, you lost 2 mins and you'll quickly note your best process for next time.


Here's my write up if it helps :

Closing with shop vac.

Today was the day for closing and it went great with a 6HP shop vac. I hooked my blower up for fun after, and there really wasn't much left but some spray. Anywho I wanted to do a write up for all the folks wondering if they could save a chunk of change and tackle their own closing...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[sande005]

That was me, after decades after using a shop compressor, that barely did the job.
Here's what I bought: Amazon.com
You may need a fitting to put the hose end into a skimmer, but a local pool store will have what you need. It is not high pressure, so you don't need anything really industrial strength.
Yes, defiantly worth the money, even if it is only used once a year.

 

[tjtoed]

I bit the bullet and bought a cyclone before last year's pool closing and closed it myself. I instantly saved 350 bucks from not having it closed so after this year, the cyclone will have paid for itself.

I am in Missouri, and we don't drain any water, just blow out and plug up everything...

I am still not 100% sure what I am doing, but I disconnect both lines coming into and out of the filter multi-valve and connect the cyclone into the "return" side first which blows out all my returns... I plug all the returns with the black rubber plugs, having my wife turn off cyclone as I plug the last one.

I then move on to the skimmer/drain side and plug the cyclone into that line. I let it run for several minutes, then plug each skimmer with a gizmo (this year I have built "extenders" that screw into the skimmer line and come above the water line. My plan is to install those before turning the cyclone on, and just plugging the top of those. I then move onto the main drain... it runs for a few more minutes, then I time it up with my wife again.... my closing the valve and her turning off the cyclone.

Then I remove all the plugs, SWG, gaskets and baskets and put the cover on...

Again, there are things in my pool I don't quite understand, but when closing I remove all the water from the pipes, then seal them off...

The company that used to close it, somehow did this by plugging the cyclone into the waste line and setting the multi-valve to something, but I never did find out what or how... Maybe someone here knows?

 

[sande005]

The waste line bypasses the filter - but goes to the pump, and then out to the returns, so you could get that side. Better is to plug it into a skimmer, then by varying the valves, you can get it all - pump, the other skimmer line, the outlets, the filter, the heater, even the main drain. (My pipe in the bottom of the skimmer accepts a regular screw in pipe fitting - so an adaptor like this works: Amazon.com
Shop carefully, so that the threads fit your skimmer, and the open end fits your cyclone hose. There are not a lot of variable sizes, but you do want one that fits.

 

[Rex D.]

Thank you all so much for the help and guidance! Happy to report I grabbed the Cyclone blower as suggested and following all your tips had a surprisingly smooth closing. It definitely was a learning experience, and it took some trial and error as mentioned, but figured it out and am pleased. The cyclone cost washes with what the pool guy used to charge to close - and since I opened too (thanks to TFP) I'm already ahead of the game.

Thanks again All!

 

[Newdude]

It definitely was a learning experience

Once you start blowing with a cyclone, it starts making sense QUICK. You hook it up and air shoots out somewhere else. Maybe you blow the same leg twice while figuring out your setup the first time. So what ?

In learning what worked best with pool #2, I filled the pipes after blowing and tried it a different way just to know.

Next year you'll tweak a couple things and it'll be a joke on years 3+.

Nice job.