Rocks and red dirt pulled in from skimmer line at startup

[colleenhowe]

I'll preface this by saying we are new pool owners. We do not know the age of the pool, but it's old and has been neglected.
Upon startup of the pump, large amounts of rocks and red dirt are being pulled into the pump basket through the skimmer line. These rocks are the same rocks mixed in with the soil around our entire property, so my husband suspects a break in the skimmer line but we aren't sure. We know it's being pulled in through the skimmer line because this doesn't happen when we close off the skimmer line. There is red dirt settled in the skimmer basket area as well. This only lasts for about 20-30 seconds upon startup and then the red water clears and rocks stop coming into the pump basket.
We recently tried to hook up a new automatic vacuum and it wasn't moving around the pool properly, the pump wouldn't stay primed while it was hooked up, and it was a disaster. The rock and dirt issue started after this fiasco. We are wondering if somehow the pressure from the vacuum caused a break in an already weak pipe?

Any ideas what would be going on here? The only pool company that returned my call can't get out here for at least two weeks to look at it, so I'm hoping someone has some ideas. Thanks!

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colleen,

I would also assume your skimmer line has a hole in it somewhere..

The best test would be to temporarily plug the skimmer line going to the pump and then plug the line into the pump. Pressurize the line with air and see if it leaks. If you guys can do that great, if not, this is something that most leak detection companies can do.. But they are not cheap.. Their only value is that they can find "about" were the pipe is leaking..

I would also assume that you would have a huge water leak that might be visually obvious.. Do you have a huge wet spot between the skimmer and your equipment pad??

You did not, by chance, take out any plugs that were under the skimmer basket did you??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colleenhowe]

Colleen,

I would also assume your skimmer line has a hole in it somewhere..

The best test would be to temporarily plug the skimmer line going to the pump and then plug the line into the pump. Pressurize the line with air and see if it leaks. If you guys can do that great, if not, this is something that most leak detection companies can do.. But they are not cheap.. Their only value is that they can find "about" were the pipe is leaking..

I would also assume that you would have a huge water leak that might be visually obvious.. Do you have a huge wet spot between the skimmer and your equipment pad??

You did not, by chance, take out any plugs that were under the skimmer basket did you??

Thanks,

Jim R.

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your reply. Excuse my stupid question, but what would we use to pressurize the line with air if both are plugged? And how would we know if it leaks?

Unfortunately the entire space between the skimmer line and equipment pad is concrete, so we have not detected a wet spot. We also haven't noticed any significant water loss, which makes this all more puzzling.

We did not take out any plugs that were under the skimmer basket. Should I be looking for a plug under there?

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colleen,

You would probably have to kluge something together... Like this..

I can't think of how you could have a hole big enough to allow rocks into the pipe without the water leaking out when the pump is off...

Is your equipment pad way above the pool level?

Show us a pic of your skimmer with the basket removed..

Show us a pic of your equipment pad showing the input plumbing to your pump..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colleenhowe]

Colleen,

You would probably have to kluge something together... Like this..

I can't think of how you could have a hole big enough to allow rocks into the pipe without the water leaking out when the pump is off...

Is your equipment pad way above the pool level?

Show us a pic of your skimmer with the basket removed..

Show us a pic of your equipment pad showing the input plumbing to your pump..

Thanks,

Jim R.

Yes, it's odd that we don't have water loss.

The pad isn't way above the pool.

We drained quite a bit of water from the pool so we could clean out the skimmer and check it out, hence the low water level.

The equipment is inside a little pool shed and the plumbing is very hard to access, but you can see it coming up from a cutout in the concrete.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colleen,

Newer skimmers have two hole in the bottom and often one is plugged.. You have an older skimmer and I see no problems

You have two pipes going into your pump.. One is from the skimmer... What is the one with the black handle? Vacuum Port or Main Drain???

Flex pipe is known for underground leak issues.. Often collapses under suction.. like when trying to vacuum... ☹

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[colleenhowe]

Colleen,

Newer skimmers have two hole in the bottom and often one is plugged.. You have an older skimmer and I see no problems

You have two pipes going into your pump.. One is from the skimmer... What is the one with the black handle? Vacuum Port or Main Drain???

Flex pipe is known for underground leak issues.. Often collapses under suction.. like when trying to vacuum... ☹

Thanks,

Jim R.

The pipe with the black handle is actually the skimmer line. The one to the left of that is the vacuum port. We do not have a main drain, which has been very confusing for us.

It sounds like we're going to need a jackahmmer and quite a bit of patience.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Colleen,

That is odd... You would think the knob would have been on the vacuum port.. This means that you can never shut the vacuum port off...

Before I would start digging, I would want to confirm that the line is bad..

Thanks,

Jim R.