My dogs decided to chew on some of my pool equipment. Suggestions on fixing/replacing?

[sccm_sysadmin]

We have 2 dogs, both about 10-months old. They are large dogs (60-70lbs) and they like to play rough outside -- chewing on sticks, roughhousing with each other, digging holes. You know, normal puppy stuff that we're working on fixing. We've got a large backyard so I can't always see what they're doing, and our pool equipment is hidden behind some bushes.

I noticed a few days ago that they decided some of our pool equipment is actually a chew toy. They've totally chewed off the handles on all 3 skimmer and main drain valves, chewed on one of the knobs on my pump, and chewed off the drain line on my sand filter (to the point that there's no threads on it to attach the cap that was removed for winterizing).

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'm assuming I'll need new valves and a new sand filter drain. A fence around the equipment would be a good idea too, I guess. Here is the parts diagram for my filter, I'll need Part #20. Do I need to completely remove all the sand to install this piece, or can I disconnect the multi-port, pick up the filter, reach under it and install the new drain line? I'm assuming I'll need to break out the hacksaw to replace the valves...? I'm pretty handy around the house and this sort of work doesn't scare me, I just haven't done it before.

Photos below (old photos to show what I have, I don't have photos of the carnage right now). Just imagine the valve handles totally chewed off with just the valve stems sticking up.

For awhile now I've considered totally upgrading my equipment and building a fence around it -- it's on 2 cheap plastic "pads" (heater on one, filter & pump on the other) and the plumbing routing is terrible. I'd like to remove it all, pour a large concrete pad, install all new equipment, and put a fence around it. Unfortunately a total blow-out and replace isn't in the works for right now due to a million other projects that are higher-priority around our home, so fixing these few things for now will have to do.

By the way, what is that vertical PVC pipe? I've never figured it out, it just seems to do...nothing...

 

[triptyx]

Do you have a spa attached to your pool? That vertical pipe could be the air supply for the jets - I have one like that except it's capped and there is a triangular hold cut in the side of it.

Get a fence to keep the pooches out, and then get some Jandy Neverlube valves to replace those garbage ball valves.

 

[Texas Splash]

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

I have six dogs of all shapes, sizes, and varieties. They are little children for sure. No sense of safety or concern to value of equipment. In my case, our pool equipment is seperated by a barrier (fence). You might consider something as simple as a light gauge wire fence from one of the big box stores held in place with those metal green fence posts for now. Cheap & easy until you can decide what you want to do long-term. Maybe a simple fence or lattice structure later?

 

[mknauss]

The drain on the sand filter will be the tough one. You will not be able to lift that unit with the sand in it. You can try to do it without removing the sand, but I would suggest being ready to remove the sand if necessary.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Do you have a spa attached to your pool? That vertical pipe could be the air supply for the jets - I have one like that except it's capped and there is a triangular hold cut in the side of it.

Get a fence to keep the pooches out, and then get some Jandy Neverlube valves to replace those garbage ball valves.

Nope, no spa. My pool is as simple as it gets; vinyl 20k-gallon, in-ground, 2 skimmers and a main drain. Pump, filter, heater, back to pool. No automation other than the analog pump timer, no water features or anything else. Just a hole in the ground with water in it.

Yes I was definitely considering the Jandy Neverlube valves.

The drain on the sand filter will be the tough one. You will not be able to lift that unit with the sand in it. You can try to do it without removing the sand, but I would suggest being ready to remove the sand if necessary.

Yuck. I was hoping I could disconnect it and turn it on it's side or something.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Yes, a fence of some sort is definitely necessary. I never imagined they'd chew on pool equipment, but I guess any piece of plastic might as well be an inviting chew toy for the pups.

 

[triptyx]

I could see my Anatolian Shepherd mix happily chewing on pool pump parts, thankfully ours is behind two fences.
A shop vac can be a great tool to get the sand out. You can deep clean the sand filter while you're at it (Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter ).

It's possible that's a pipe they put in to support a feature you're not using. But honestly, no clue!

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

I could see my Anatolian Shepherd mix happily chewing on pool pump parts, thankfully ours is behind two fences.
A shop vac can be a great tool to get the sand out. You can deep clean the sand filter while you're at it (Deep Cleaning a Sand Filter ).

It's possible that's a pipe they put in to support a feature you're not using. But honestly, no clue!

I deep cleaned this filter 2 seasons ago so I guess it's time to do it again regardless of this chewing incident.

While I love the fact that I can open this filter in half, making it super-easy to deep clean...removing all 30 of those bolts can be a PITA, even with a cordless drill.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

New valves arrived today (Jandy NeverLube #4724, 2-way).

Unfortunately I have some bad news: The pipes coming out of the ground are too close together to just plumb in the new valves. I'll have to cut the pipes off at the ground, extend them up a bit, and widen them from each other...so lots of new plumbing work. Yuck.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Dig down a few inches and start at the right valve looking down. Cut and install a coupling and pipe up from there to a 90 to valve. The middle one use a street 45 right to regular 45 then to 90 to valve. This should end up center to filter. The left one start lower do the same and end up even spaced to the center using 2 regular 45s with the space between getting you the distance you need. It will look much cleaner if you hide the fittings in the ground and have just 3 stems coming up. Make sure to remove the guts on the valves. You can use rain or shine blue glue on below ground and clear glue on above if you want to make it nice and clean. The valves are actually CPVC so if you use clear glue let it dry a day b4 adding water

 

[djdonte]

You went with the right valves. Do you have a dedicated cleaner port? Could be the mystery pipe.

I agree with the suggestion to dig it up and hide all the splices. Also, this way you can make it look nice and square above ground and do whatever you need to under ground.

As for PVC glue, the pipe is PVC and the valves will be CPVC. Also for the final connections it will be impossible to twist when you install. For this reason the only glue I use is Christy's Red Hot and their primer. A plumber reccomemded it to me and I've successfully used it to glue a connection on my indoor jacuzzi tub that came apart, which isn't really supposed to be possible. As long as its not cold you should be good in a few hours. You will need to remove the guts on the valves when gluing, and I stuff paper towels to stop glue from getting into the body. Also for whatever reason when I glued the valves, the pipe wanted to come back out way more so than gluing PVC fittings, so be sure to hold it in there for about 15 seconds when gluing. There is also a in and out on the valves if you look. Not sure it matters, but you don't want to be making any mistakes on 50 dollar pool valves.

Good luck... I have a similar project coming up myself. I have a pressure cleaner port that I want to use for a suction cleaner. Problems is I have one 3 way handy going to the pump from each skimmer, so I will have to dig up everything and completely re-plumb to make it work. I already replumbed the pressure side to exclude the cleaner line.

I was considering using a PVC cross with three 2 way Jandy neverlubes, but after seeing your picture I might try that with the elbows. Only problem is every elbow is another place for clogs. Right now I am using a skimmer for the cleaner.

 

[emac]

Dang, I hope our dog (standard poodle about the same age) doesnt read this post! He has chewed the foam tip on the polaris vac and brought the steel brush into the house, chewed the japanese maple to the ground, and a few other things, but thankfully he hasnt found the plumbing. I feel very lucky. You are a good sport! Enjoy

 

[Teald024]

I believe the handles on the Hayward valves will just pop on and off. If the valve stem itself isn't all chewed up, you may be able to get a new Hayward valve or just the handle online or at the local pool store and just put the handle on the old valve. Unless you want to use the Jandy valves and cut & fit your piping.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Wow I hadn't checked this thread in a few days and I come back to some good responses, thanks everyone!

• I WAS able to replace the drain port in the sand filter by disconnecting the filter and tipping it over. This allowed easy access to the underside so I could replace that drain port. Hopefully I didn't break anything inside the filter while it was on it's side. If I did...FML.
• Unfortunately I discovered that the valve on the right was gnawed off all the way down to the valve stem and it opened part of it to the air. I tried to get some water flowing through everything last weekend but that valve kept sucking in air from the outside, making it almost impossible for the pump to get a vacuum going to suck water from the pool.
• I do not have any kind of dedicated cleaner ports that I know of.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Here's 2 more photos so you can see the layout. I have NO IDEA why whoever built this pool did such a tight and convoluted layout. Re-plumbing this entire thing will probably be a weekend project at some point.

I read the post from jimmythegreek but can't quite picture it in my mind. MS Paint?!

Whatever I do, it'll be an odd plumbing layout because these stupid pipes are so close together. I guess theoretically I could return these and get (2) of the 3-way valves -- use 1 valve to connect both skimmers together and output that valve to another valve connected to the main drain, and then output that to the pump. But I've already got these 3 valves and I kind of like the simplicity of each incoming pipe being on/off, even if that means I have an extra valve and potential point of failure.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Just ordered the Weld-On 724 glue, Weld-On P70 primer, and (2) unions to fit on my pump. Unfortunately they only had those (2) in stock so I'll have to grab some more when they're back in stock. Figures that Lowes and Home Depot don't carry the specific PVC glue and primer that Jandy recommends, but thankfully Amazon does.

Anybody have a recommendation for a union that fits these Jandy valves?

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

Ok I finally got around to replacing this plumbing. Here's a shot of the dry fit, before I glued everything together. Now I just need to SLAM.

I ended up needing to rotate my filter 90-degrees and redoing some of the plumbing for the multi-port selector. The waste line goes down under ground and back into a wooded area about 15-ft away, so I had to do some odd U-turn plumbing for that. I also discovered that the dogs chewed on the union connections for the heater, which now leak a bit. *facepalm* Maybe I can sand down the teeth marks so the o-rings seal a little better.

Having never done PVC work like this before, it was slow-going. It just took *forever* to custom-cut all these pieces of pipe and glue them all in place...it probably didn't help that I didn't have anything to hold the pipe while cutting other than my hands. Maybe I was too picky with it too, trying to get everything perfect, which didn't quite happen in the end but that's ok since it all works! I think I was working at it for about 6-hours.

I was unhappy to discover that the smallest container of Weld-On 724 (which Jandy recommends as the solvent for their valves) that anyone sells is a pint. I only needed it for 6 connections (the valve-to-pipe connections)...so of course I paid almost $20 for a 16oz container of solvent, and probably have 15oz left. Oh well. I had already purchased some Oatey PVC cement, which I used on all the other connections. Such is life, I guess.

Speaking of dogs, I had a pretty good helper for the first hour or two...

....but then the lazy bum fell asleep on the job. Good help is so hard to find these days.

 

[Texas Splash]

That must be the culprit huh? Ha. With six dogs, I feel your pain.

 

[sccm_sysadmin]

That must be the culprit huh? Ha. With six dogs, I feel your pain.

Yep, one of them. Here's the other...this was taken back in January so they're both a little larger now. 70lbs each. Male is a German Shepherd & Coonhound mix (dad was GSD, mom was Black & Tan Coonhound), the female is a Black Lab. ~11-months old now. Aside from these chewing issues, they're fantastic dogs -- really good with our kids, generally well-behaved, they don't bark like crazy, and they're fairly laid-back for puppies.