Main Drain

[Shruggs85]

New pool owner here, and as I am looking thru old threads, I saw the main drain may be a cause of excess algae fighting against a SLAM, and as I am in day 13, and not seeing much progress in the past few days I am thinking that may be my case. Do I just jump in and unscrew it? Is there a basket or something below to clear out? (and is it safe to jump in?)

Pic below from a go pro in the pool of the main drain this morning. I haven't been in the water yet as it has been a swamp, but if needed will jump in to clean this out. I have since vacuumed up more of the debris around it.

Also throwing a pic in from today of the pool, and when I started filtering it out (after I had removed all the debris/leaves)

Appreciate the help!!!

 

[Texas Splash]

Remove the screws and the cover should come right off. You should see the drain area and possibly a hydrotstatic valve screwed into the bottom. Algae and debris can indeed wiggle its way into and under the drain cover, so getting in there could be worth it.

 

[Richard320]

First you need to figure out how it's plumbed. It could go to a valve by the equipment pad and it's just turned off. Or it could be plumbed to the bottom of the skimmer and the diverter is missing or set to 100% skimmer. So check the valves. And if there isn't one, check the bottom of the skimmer for a second hole and try backwashing it with a garden hose.

Now for the rest. If you've been brushing and vacuuming the way you should be, plenty of chlorinated water should be getting down to the depths, so it's unfair to blame it on the drain. At this late date you're still vacuuming up big chunks of organic debris? That's listed in the prerequisites of the SLAM Process And fairly early, too, even before setting the pH. People with above ground pools somehow manage to clear swamps with no main drain.

 

[Shruggs85]

I vacuum daily and sweep daily as part of the SLAM process (to the best of my extent, although had a 2 day break in it due to work travel out of state), also removed as much of the organic matter as I could, however still find some around in the pool as the clarity originally was only about a foot. Today I was just about able to make out the vacuum head on the floor of the shallow end, so I know its working. At this point, I am just wondering if there is anything I can do to "speed up" the process, thinking that possibly the main drain could be a hidden "Gem" in the water. Not necessarily blaming it on the main drain per-say as the first blame would be to my noobie pool owner brain.

More of what I see now at the bottom is sand (reference to one of my earlier posts) with any remaining organic matter making its way to the main drain as you see in that pic. Had some periodic issues with poles breaking, vacuum breaking, etc, but finally into a groove that hopefully should clear this up.