Is it necessary to blow out air from main drain? Closing pool without main drain shut off valve

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Mini-DV

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Aug 5, 2024
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HI, I live in NY/NJ area. This is the first time I own a property with inground pool. I haven been doing a lot of readings and watching YouTubes about pool closing. However, in my current pipe setup, there are no shut off valves. I think I can still blow the air out from return jets if I lower the water level below them. but I cannot get the air out of main drain.

Is it necessary to get the air out from main drain? or I can leave as is? I also heard that it is safe to leave the main drain pipe untouched. not sure if it is true. thanks for your advice.

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Mini-DV said:
HI, I live in NY/NJ area. This is the first time I own a property with inground pool. I haven been doing a lot of readings and watching YouTubes about pool closing. However, in my current pipe setup, there are no shut off valves. I think I can still blow the air out from return jets if I lower the water level below them. but I cannot get the air out of main drain.

Is it necessary to get the air out from main drain? or I can leave as is? I also heard that it is safe to leave the main drain pipe untouched. not sure if it is true. thanks for your advice.

View attachment 602224
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I depend on air lock. Basically, I blow the skimmer lines first and close them with plugs. Then I blow the drain line and close the Jandy valve.
 
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Mini-DV said:
so do I blow out air out from the pump? correct?
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I like to pop my pump and blow both directions, but you can also blow from the skimmers, or MacGyver up a pump lid attachment as shown above. You'll need to install a valve for the main drain. I'm surprised they've had no issues to date, but we've had several warm winters, so maybe it was luck.

Without a valve, the water level in the drain pipe will be at the pool water level which on the pad side will be above the frost line. On the pool side it eventually needs to sink and will be 8ft (?) down and that side doesn't matter either way.

And Welcome to TFP !!


Here's my closing process below

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 www.troublefreepool.com
 
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Newdude said:
I like to pop my pump and blow both directions, but you can also blow from the skimmers, or MacGyver up a pump lid attachment as shown above. You'll need to install a valve for the main drain. I'm surprised they've had no issues to date, but we've had several warm winters, so maybe it was luck.

Without a valve, the water level in the drain pipe will be at the pool water level which on the pad side will be above the frost line. On the pool side it eventually needs to sink and will be 8ft (?) down and that side doesn't matter either way.

And Welcome to TFP !!


Here's my closing process below

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 www.troublefreepool.com
Click to expand...
Thank you for your input and the tip on closing the pool. The pool has been around for 20 years :)
 
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