Poor main drain suction after new plaster renovation

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kchinger

Well-known member
Aug 20, 2017
306
Southeast PA
Noticed my main drain suction was not like it used to be after the plaster was finished a few days ago (Monday, filled Tuesday), getting tons of air (I have a small suction leak in a busted valve that's being replaced next week), not enough water at full pump speed, seems like there's a restriction. So I flipped it over to main drain return for a second and it blew a bunch of plaster Crud into the pool. I fished out what I could with the skimmer (carefully since the plaster is only a few days old) and tried again. It's better, but not good. I did this swap a couple more times, but it seems like maybe there's a bunch of junk trapped under the drain covers that just can't get out but is too heavy to make it to the pump. Picture of one skim (this wasn't nearly all of it) and what it looked like on the bottom is attached.

Do I need to have the builders come do something? Can I do something? I assume I need to swim down, remove the covers, and clean it out by hand/switch to return and blow it out and then clean it up, but it's a bit cold and a bit new plaster for that at the moment I think. Are there any other options?

Thanks.
 

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Its probably pieces of your old plaster that fell in when they chipped it out. I'd take the cover off and reverse the flow again then pick up the big pieces and suck up the rest with your vacuum. Most here will say you dont really need a main drain anyway.
 
kchinger said:
How do I remove the piece that cemented itself on?

And why did I pay $20k+ and end up having to fix my light niche, my main drain, and clean all of my brand new coping myself, oh, and there's plaster all over my yard.

Why does the pool industry suck in kind of a unique way?
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I can't believe its cemented on itself. Usually the plaster is cured right after the water is filled.

You need to fix it yourself because most pool companies suck and do not have good customer service. They do not have an attention to detail.

I do electrical for a few different pool companies and that's what I see. All have very good intentions but they just cannot get the right people that can oversee a great install.
 
ImpalaSS said:
I can't believe its cemented on itself. Usually the plaster is cured right after the water is filled.

You need to fix it yourself because most pool companies suck and do not have good customer service. They do not have an attention to detail.

I do electrical for a few different pool companies and that's what I see. All have very good intentions but they just cannot get the right people that can oversee a great install.
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I tried brushing it, vacuuming, skimming, and using a plastic drywall joint tool, there's definitely a few places that are pure white, slightly raised bumps that aren't coming off. I dunno. Maybe they were there the whole time and I didn't notice but it seems unlikely. Hopefully I can make it better once I can get in the pool.
 
kchinger said:
And why did I pay $20k+ and end up having to fix my light niche, my main drain, and clean all of my brand new coping myself, oh, and there's plaster all over my yard.
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Thought for a minute that we had the same builder:)

I've been cleaning up since this started. Hauled off 4500# of debris. Had to dig the mud out of the skimmers because they were just going to let it all run into the pump. They did haul off most of the pebble/plaster but I was still left with lots of little pieces in the driveway.

Oh,..and I have grout/mortar on the tile surround that I will be cleaning off myself.
 
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They first said I was wrong and they've done thousands of pools and never had a main drain clogged, but the plumber will take a look when they're out next week.

This picture is what I found in my pump basket. Some of these are pretty darn big, which makes me wonder what's still in the pipes. I also don't know how big they were before they tumbled around for a while, because it had been a few days before I checked.

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kchinger said:
In my case I have a main drain return, so clearing the main drain is easy, once I can get the covers off after I get in the pool.

If my skimmers are bad that's a different story.
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Mine has a piece of plaster restricting the flow, wasn’t blocked so none of the bladder type things worked.
I needed to redo my plumbing anyway so took the pool main drain and a source and then ran out of the pump to the spa return.
Turned it on for a few seconds at first to make sure nothing exploded but after that let it run for a minute and finally a chunk came out. Took a lot of volume of water more then just pressure.
 
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Here's a picture of the stuff on the bottom that's stuck. Dunno when or where it came from, but the plumber will apparently fix that while he's out, I have no idea how or what he's gonna do.

The dark stuff in the picture is just seed pods on the surface I missed when skimming.
 

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