Main Drain Fitting in-Situ Repair

Hi,

Does anyone have experience with in-place repair of a main drain fitting in a concrete bottom pool? The pool is empty now for re-painting. The leak appears to be located in the pump suction line very close to the drain itself. All of the piping is 1.5" ID HDPE. The builder used nylon barbed fittings that probably failed at the drain.

The leak was verified by a local pool service company who recommended plugging the line. However, from past experience the recirculation pump isn't very happy running on a single suction path from either the bottom drain or the skimmer. The pump discharge would have to be permanently throttled.

With the pool empty, the line was plugged at the drain, filled with water and pressure tested. A leak was confirmed. Then the pipe was pressurized with 5 psi of air. The pipe was found empty when the plug was removed confirming that the leak is at the low point very close to the drain.

We are reluctant to jump into concrete excavation at this time.

Does anyone have experience with a pipe lining system or other process for temporary/permanent repair (epoxy coating of the pipe and nylon fitting ID).

The pool is a 37 year old Hallmark hybrid pool (concrete bottom about 10' deep overall with a ledge around the perimeter and 44" high fiberglass side panels that are placed in the concrete ledge and are bolted together) located in SE Connecticut.

Thanks
Tom

I've repaired main drains . . . and there's no get-by repair I'd be willing to do. If you hired me, I'd figure that any 'get-by' fix would fail about a week after you got the pool full . . . and that you'd then want me to come back, fix the leak, and pay for the drain and refill.

I'd bet that most decent service guys will tell you the same.

Among other things, that black poly pipe can split and THAT is a tough repair. The only thing that sticks to polyethylene is more polyethylene, using a welder.

PoolDoc, Thanks I understand the advantage and risk in excavating the concrete pool bottom, the leak may be in a 90 degree elbow outside the pool wall. The purpose of my post was to see if anyone had experience with any of the trenchless repair processes available.

Thanks again.