Repairing broken main drain cover

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gregch

gregch

Silver Supporter
Apr 26, 2014
114
Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom
So we had our friends’ girls in the pool today and somehow the plastic grille over the main drain has got broken up - sort of shattered - Heaven knows what they were doing in there! - with one large piece having dropped into the hole underneath and so far one small piece turning up in the pump basket. I also noticed thst the black gasket underneath the grille seems to be breaking down into black gunk. The whole thing is very old, c. 1980s. It’s a Certikin HD33.

I’ve ordered a replacement cover grille and gasket, but I had a couple of questions I hoped you good people might help me with!

First, how would you go about replacing a drain grille, I mean do I need to drain down the pool completely (draining and refilling completely will take days and c. 13,000 gallons)? or would you just drain partway and then grab some goggles and a screwdriver and duck underwater to fix it?

Second, if there are other small broken bits still in the pipe, how would you check/get them out/dislodge them? How can I stop other bits being sucked down when I drain the pool?

Thanks for your help, really appreciate it!
 
I’d securely gorilla tape 20 foot of hose to the snorkel, tie it off to the ladder,put on weights and have at it. Might need a wider hose than a garden hose. They have 1 inch clear hose by the foot at most hardware stores.
 
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Hire a SCUBA diver. You won’t be able to stay down long enough with snorkel & weights. If you try a long air hose, you will be able to stay at the bottom - until the coroner pulls you out.
 
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I replaced mine several years ago before I was SCUBA certified and I am not going to describe exactly how I did it.
You have to overcome your buoyancy with your lungs full of air in order to stay on the bottom and work the screws then be able to surface and return.
It is not safe and it is not easy. Smarter to find a diver or better yet get certified.
 
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Newdude said:
I’d securely gorilla tape 20 foot of hose to the snorkel, tie it off to the ladder,put on weights and have at it. Might need a wider hose than a garden hose. They have 1 inch clear hose by the foot at most hardware stores.
Click to expand...

No good, I thought every kid tried that before they were 13 years old. My brother and I discovered that a bucket and a bicycle pump is better than the hose. Still alive to laugh about it.
 
Not sure there's too many scuba divers available around here. I guess it's back to the other idea - drain the pool down until there's just a couple of feet of water, get it fixed, then fill it up again. Any issues with that approach??

Apart from the time it would take to refill (I would guess about a week!!!) is there likely to be any problems with the (pretty old) liner getting out of shape? To date, I've only ever dropped the water level about two feet (for winterizing).

Also, I guess it's possible more broken pieces will get sucked down the pipe when I'm draining down (although the pump was running, 50/50 main and skimmer, for probably an hour or so before we noticed the broken drain cover, so maybe that ship has already sailed!). If there are pieces jammed in the pipe underground, is there any way to get them out??
 
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Oly said:
No good, I thought every kid tried that before they were 13 years old. My brother and I discovered that a bucket and a bicycle pump is better than the hose. Still alive to laugh about it.
Click to expand...


Ha ! I didn’t have a pool growing up. So I haven’t tried all the bad ideas yet. I certainly would have land tested it first.

No idea how much a diver would cost but the small mini scuba tanks are $125 on amazon with a 5-10 min oxygen supply. They are rechargeable and it would probably come in handy again down the road.

Amazon.com : SMACO Scuba Diving Tank Equipment, Mini Scuba Dive Cylinder with 5-10 Minutes Capability, 0.5 Litre Capacity with Refillable Design, Portable Pony Bottle for Emergency Backup : Gateway

Amazon.com : SMACO Scuba Diving Tank Equipment, Mini Scuba Dive Cylinder with 5-10 Minutes Capability, 0.5 Litre Capacity with Refillable Design, Portable Pony Bottle for Emergency Backup : Gateway
www.amazon.com
 

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OK, that looks neat but still not convinced it's the right answer!

I think as a first step today I'll try shutting off the main drain suction valve, and vacuuming over the drain with the skimmer hose to try and suck up any remaining small bits that haven't get gone down the drain pipe. Then weight down a hose from the skimmer and drain down the pool to about 3' deep so I can work on the drain without scuba gear. Then hope for about a week of proper British summer weather so a) no-one wants to use the pool and b) it'll give me a little help filling it up ;-)

Does that sound like a plan??
 
Yes. Especially the part where you feel the ability to do it safely seeing how you’ll be the one who wins or loses trying. Good luck !
 
Had to replace the main drain cover on my folk's pool years ago. Ended up diving down with flippers and mask and doing it in 10-15 second intervals. Took probably 20 dives to remove the screws and replace them with the new cover. Their pool is about 9 feet deep. Reminded me of when we were kids and would regularly be diving to the bottom to retrieve golf balls and other sinkers.
 
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