Repaired Leaking Return Fitting w/o Draining Pool

Just wondering if any of you have a way to change this fitting without draining the water down. Thanks!

I've emailed the link to this thread to Poconos (aka Al)to see if he can offer any advice.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

Welcome to the forum.
Back in 2006 I was having an issue with my inground stairs and wanted to see if I could build a dam to let me pump the water out on the stair side and work on them dry without draining the pool. The dam idea actually worked but never got to working on the stairs. However, the dam was a piece of 3/4 plywood probably 3x4 feet reinforced with 2x3s to handle the pressure. I formed a seal to butt against the stair edges using a real thick bead of silicone seal. To get the sealing edge flat I layed the plywood on a flat surface, on wax paper, and let the silicone cure for a couple days. The silicone won't stick to wax paper so when peeled off I had a good flat sealing edge.
Maybe you could build a 4 sided box and butt it against the pool side. You could then work on the return fitting from the top. You won't have to go deep so you shouldn't have the pressure issues I encountered.
I know I have some pictures of this thing somewhere so I'll see if I can remember how to post them.
Hope this gives you an idea.
Al

Thanks. I did find someone who used a bucket with a hole cut in the side and they said to put weather stripping on the top opening. Then you can put the top of the bucket over the fitting and seal out the water and then use the hole in the side to access the fitting. I'm going to give it a try this weekend.

I fixed the leaking return fitting this weekend, using a styrofoam cooler and it worked better than expected. What I did was take an old small styrofoam cooler, put weather stripping around the top and then cut a hole, large enough for my hand to be able to reach in to hold the fitting. I had my wife hold it over the fitting while I remover it from the pool wall. As soon as the water ran out that was trapped inside the cooler, the thing suctioned itself to the wall creating a dam that was completely water proof. I change the fitting and then removed the cooler, which by the way was pretty tough to do, we had to fill the cooler about half full of water before I could get the thing off the side of the pool. Anyway, just thought I would share my experience, so if you have to do this it is a fairly inexpensive tool that will save you from draining your pool down.

By the way, the bucket idea would have worked as well, but I didn't have one that was big enough to get above the surface of the water, so I had to use the alternative method.

Ingenious idea! Thanks for sharing it. This is what makes the Pool Forum so great -- lots of people sharing!

membership upgraded. -ben