saabmarine
10-04-2012, 06:33 PM
My wife and I just bought a house with a pool and neither of us have had one before. I've figured out most of it and winterized the pool myself. I'm a DIY person with skills ranging from rebuilding motors to building entertainment centers from scratch. I can typically figure something out on my own or with minimal research.
Anyway. Before winterization I noticed a return to the pool wasn't supplying any water. Back up, It's a 40,000 gallon inground pool made of concrete I think. Kind of shaped like an 8. Also has an attached inground spa with spill over into the pool. The pool has two skimmers and a main drain, spa has two main drains. I have a sand filter, one main pump for the whole system, and valves to shut each skimmer/drain off individually but one valve to turn on the entire pool returns and the same for the spa. Also has a heater.
Ok back to my issue. One return to the pool is jammed good. I hit it with the shop vac both suction and blowing on both sides and I get zero movement. So then I got a rubber plug and drilled a hole in it, used a shop compressor to pressurize the lines to approx 30-40 psi from both ends and get nothing. I even tried pressurizing while having the shop vac sucking the other end. Nothing.
How does a return line get clogged like that and how do I unclog it? Anything that got to the line must have gone through the filter unless the valve was on recirculate. I'm confused and stuck. Please help a pool newbie out.
Also, I'm in Michigan if that means anything.
Anyway. Before winterization I noticed a return to the pool wasn't supplying any water. Back up, It's a 40,000 gallon inground pool made of concrete I think. Kind of shaped like an 8. Also has an attached inground spa with spill over into the pool. The pool has two skimmers and a main drain, spa has two main drains. I have a sand filter, one main pump for the whole system, and valves to shut each skimmer/drain off individually but one valve to turn on the entire pool returns and the same for the spa. Also has a heater.
Ok back to my issue. One return to the pool is jammed good. I hit it with the shop vac both suction and blowing on both sides and I get zero movement. So then I got a rubber plug and drilled a hole in it, used a shop compressor to pressurize the lines to approx 30-40 psi from both ends and get nothing. I even tried pressurizing while having the shop vac sucking the other end. Nothing.
How does a return line get clogged like that and how do I unclog it? Anything that got to the line must have gone through the filter unless the valve was on recirculate. I'm confused and stuck. Please help a pool newbie out.
Also, I'm in Michigan if that means anything.