Inside my skimmer is a second hole plugged up by some material that's falling apart..

[Skenn81]

New house, new pool owner, figuring things out.

So far what we know: This is a cartridge filtered in-ground pool, chlorine based, approx. 15,000 gallons.

I opened up the skimmer to see whats in there and when I took the basket out I noticed that there is a second hole which is filled in with something, no idea what. I poked at it and it felt like some kind of hard old styrofoam. It was crunchy and when I did my poking it fell apart a bit.

Here are some pictures.

Anyone know what this is about and what I should do about it?

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

The open hole goes to your main pool pump... The other hole most likely goes to your Main Drain or is plugged from the bottom if you have a Main Drain valve at your equipment pad..

My guess is that the previous owner thought he had a Main Drain leak and decided to plug it with something... I would dig it all out and determine if the pipe is capped off from under the skimmer or if the pipe leads to your main drain. If the main drain is leaking, adding the plug is not really going to do anything unless the main drain is also plugged..

If the hole is open, when your remove the plug, you can use a Drain King and force water into the pipe and see if you can see water coming out of your main drain...

Thousands of pools do not have operating main drains and they all work just fine.. I would not go to any trouble to get the main drain working if it were me..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Skenn81]

Okay I dug it out as you said to, pulled all the foam and gunk and such away, and under that? I found sand and rocks. I scratched at that for a while and all I could find was more sand and rocks. I could keep digging but I don't know what I can expect to find. Also digging with one finger in a tiny pipe isn't the easiest thing in the world to do.

On the equipment pad, there is a value which splits on both the intake and return. What kind of testing should I do here to figure out what's going on?

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

For right now the return side does not matter... on the pump, or suction, side the possible inputs would normally be Skimmer or Skimmers if you have more than one, Main Drain, or Vacuum port. Could be others but most likely not... How many skimmers do you have? Do you have a vacuum port in the side wall of your pool?

If filled with gravel and dirt, then I suspect the pipe is capped under the skimmer..

The simplest thing to do would be to dig out about an inch and install a plug from the top.. the hole should be threaded..

You could also use a screw driver to dig the old stuff out and use a shop vac stuck right over the hole to suck up the junk.. Only run it for a few seconds otherwise you will just be vacuuming up pool water..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Skenn81]

On the pool I have one skimmer. For the main drain I am going to swim down there with some food coloring to see if it actually is doing anything. Havent checked that yet. I went and got an inch and a half threaded plug. I cleaned out as much as I could with my hands, no shop vac yet. I screwed it in as best I could.

The Polaris is the type that is run off the returns. There is a threaded jack on the side of the pool the Polaris hose twist locks into. It's controlled by the valve which is split between the other returns and the Polaris port.

 

[Jimrahbe]

S,

If you only have one skimmer, and no vacuum port, that means that it is likely the main drain is plumbed back to the suction side of your equipment pad... Turn the valve so that the skimmer is off and the "unknown" port is on.. If the pump keeps running, then it has to be getting water from somewhere... My guess is the main drain...

If you can control the main drain at the pad, then the extra hole in the skimmer is not used...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[LacesOUT]

S,

The open hole goes to your main pool pump... The other hole most likely goes to your Main Drain or is plugged from the bottom if you have a Main Drain valve at your equipment pad..

My guess is that the previous owner thought he had a Main Drain leak and decided to plug it with something... I would dig it all out and determine if the pipe is capped off from under the skimmer or if the pipe leads to your main drain. If the main drain is leaking, adding the plug is not really going to do anything unless the main drain is also plugged..

If the hole is open, when your remove the plug, you can use a Drain King and force water into the pipe and see if you can see water coming out of your main drain...

Thousands of pools do not have operating main drains and they all work just fine.. I would not go to any trouble to get the main drain working if it were me..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Wait, if this second skimmer hole is plugged, are you saying that means the main drain isn't functional?

Because mine is plugged, but I have 2 pipes running to my pump.

So wouldn't that mean the main drain is running?

 

[IceShadow]

Wait, if this second skimmer hole is plugged, are you saying that means the main drain isn't functional?

Because mine is plugged, but I have 2 pipes running to my pump.

So wouldn't that mean the main drain is running?

The main drain is either plumbed direct to your pump via its own plumbing or goes into the skimmer. If you have two pipes and only one suction visible aside from the main drain (the skimmer), then it’s reasonable to assume the other pipe is coming from the main drain.