I have a question about winterizing my AGP and unhooking inlet and outlet hoses

[poolshrinker]

Do I loosen the hose clamp and try to wiggle it off the inlet/outlet; or do I unscrew the inlet/outlet hoses? If the latter, it twists the hoses and seems to cause kinking. If the former, it’s really tight and seems to be putting a lot of stress on the pool where it attaches to the inlet/outlet.

What do you do?

I have my plugs in; I have the filter backwashed and drained; heat pump drained. Cover is on. Temps are cold, chlorine is high. Everything is done except taking these dumb hoses off so they don’t burst.

 

[cowboycasey]

Just loosen the hose clamp and take them off and store them.. they may be tight but they will come off...

 

[Newdude]

A hairdryer will probably help loosen the hose, providing the water is drained far enough that you aren’t going to get soaked when it comes off.

 

[Bama Rambler]

X2 What NewDude said. As long as the water is below the fitting, use a hair dryer or heat gun (but don't get it to hot) to soften the plastic a little and they'll slip right off.

 

[poolshrinker]

thanks. i ended up being able to drain one without removing the hose clamp. I drained it out the end near the filter.

As for the other, the hair dryer finally worked. I don’t know what you’re talking about, ‘slip right off.’ It took prying with a screwdriver and about half an hour of using all my strength to get it off. I chose to separate the black tubing from the horizontal PVC on the ground as it seemed less likely I would rip the outlet out of the pool, or stab the pool with a pliers or screwdriver. Anyway, the deed is done.

I’m not planning to use a sump pump this winter. My winter cover has a couple of very small holes in it, I think from crows in the spring. SO it’s not waterproof. I’ll use an old hose and gravity siphon into my sewer cleanout every now and then. We get about 30 inches of rain in the next six months so every 2 weeks or so I’ll just drop it in for an. hour or so.