Valve Replacement

[themrsrouse]

Hi there!
We have a 3 year old above ground pool- 24’x56’ with a center drain and standard skimmer.
When the pool was installed, the company installed two ball valves so that we could turn off the center drain while vacuuming the pool or turn off the skimmer basket intake if we needed to.
They were crappy ball valves, and last summer, the handle for the drain valve broke off as I was turning it, leaving it half closed. It was close to the end of the season, so we left it be and closed the pool regularly.
We want to fix this before opening this year. My husband is very handy and knows how to do it, but we cannot figure out how to seal the center drain while working so we don’t lose the water that remains in the pool (we don’t completely drain from year to year).
Ideas?

 

[duraleigh]

Sometimes you can put channel locks on that broken handle and close the ball valve that way.

If that fails, place a piece of flat rubber or saran wrap on top of the drain and cut the bad valve loose. It will leak some but the saran wrap should give you a pretty good seal.

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome to TFP! Good luck with that repair and let us know if you have more questions or issues.

 

[cfherrman]

Take 5 gallon bucket and set it over it with a rock on top.

If you have a shop vac keep it around, you can set it to vac to get the Bucket/Saran wrap to seal or put it on blow for the "oh *****" and it can hold back the water while you think.

If you wet stab a valve open it first

 

[themrsrouse]

Wanted to provide an update and tell you all thanks for the help and suggestions.
We managed to get a plug for the bottom drain (however getting in that VERY cold water to put it in was NO fun at all!)
Here's a picture of the finished product. My husband also installed an emergency shut-off valve for the bottom drain that we can dig up and use if we ever need to do this again.
We turned everything on for the first time yesterday, and by some miracle, we had NO leaks!