Return plumbing failure - help!

[Raegal75]

First, forgive me if I don't know the right terms for things. We've had our pool for almost 5 years, but I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing.

When I started things up this year, it was going okay, but suddenly I'm having major issues on the return plumbing (the plumbing after the filter).

You can see in the pictures where I tried to glue things together. The pipes keep separating before and after the valve. And once when I attempted to close the valve, the pipe that goes to the slide popped off.

Is it as easy as replacing that area of plumbing? Should I get a new valve also?

Could something bigger be going on causing too much pressure in that area?

Pool is in ground, vinyl, 30,000 gallons, sand filter.

Thanks for any direction.

 

[HermanTX]

Was there ever any flow to the pool or to the slide before the pipe separated?
There is a good possibility that the valve is actually closed even though you turned it to open it. This could cause a blockage and if your connection is old it just had to separate to relieve pressure. It is easy to replace that pipe although you may need to dig out around the pipe going down. Hard to see from the picture. Definitely go with a new valve, a Jandy 2 way valve, so you can do annual maintenance or repair it without removing the main body.
You need special PVC glue from your hardware store to properly replace the PVC pipes. You can call a pool tech to help you.

 

[duckcmmndr]

It looks like a gluing issue and not a pressure issue. As stated above you use a special cleaner and glue for PVC. It looks like you have been using the cleaner, what are you using for the cement?

I like to use the Oatey Rain-R-Shine cement on plumbing that may have some residual water in it. | Oatey

 

[robertmee]

Concur on using Rain or Shine Cement. Looking at your picture, looks like there is an old ring of primer that's beyond the joint. What is your technique for priming and gluing, because that looks to me like pushout so you didn't get a good joint. Primer not only cleans, but it softens the PVC. PVC fittings are tapered, so the primer prepares the fitting for the pipe to actually push into the wall of the fitting. Because of this, the pipe will have a tendency to want to push back out. For this reason you need to hold the pipe into the fitting with pressure for at least 30 seconds. If you are just gluing it, pushing the pipe in and letting it loose, the pipe is pushing back out of the fitting before the glue cures. You should primer both the pipe and the fitting thoroughly, then glue both the pipe and fitting liberally but not so much the glue pools. Push the pipe into the fitting, twist the pipe 1/4 turn, and hold for 30 seconds or longer to allow glue to cure.

 

[Raegal75]

There was good flow to the pool before all this happened. The slide is actually not working (the hose was detached when we bought the house) so I could actually just use a straight pipe and cap off the section to the slide.

When the first connection was leaking, I used a rubber mallet to get it back together, so possibly I knocked all the other connections loose?

Yeah, I know I dropped the ball on the gluing. That purple you see, it's an all-in-one primer and glue spray. I thought maybe I could take a shortcut. Clearly, I was wrong.

One problem I was also having is the pipe that goes into the ground, when I had that separated from the elbow pipe, water was continuously leaking out slowly, so I'm not sure how I would stop that, or if I can glue when wet like that?

Thanks for the advice so far. Do the job right the first time, right?

 

[trivetman]

Its hard to tell from the pics but is the bad connection the fitting just above the exit from ground? If the coupling is bent out of shape from the shortcuts it might be worth digging down a bit and replacing the coupling below ground level. It might not need to be all that deep you need to dig to do a proper repair if working with the existing coupling is doomed to fail you may well cut to the chase.

if the connection is below pool water level can you blow out the pipe and rubber plug on the pool side to clear the water for the repair?

 

[duckcmmndr]

You can use the glue that I posted the link to, Rain-R-Shine, even when water is coming out, that is what it was made for. They sell it at almost all hardware stores.

 

[jimmythegreek]

Rain r shine can have moisture but it can't be wet leaking for a good bond. I agree with digging down and replacing all that. Throw the all in one away or give it to a neighbor you dont like

 

[Raegal75]

Just want to say thanks for all your input. I got the Rain R Shine, took apart the loose pipes, cleaned and lightly sanded them, used the cement inside and out (the valve was fine) and now I have a pool that works again. Yay!