old gunite pool

I am hoping someone can help me!! I recently bought a house with a built in gunite pool. The pool was installed in 1968/1969 by Wagner Pools of CT. I opened the pool and figured out a lot of the workings, however I'm still at a loss on a couple of fronts. First my skimmer has two drain hole in the bottom - the first is for the filter pump - I'm at a loss for the second hole? I do have several drain pipes the drain behind the pool house- I did put drain plugs in the well, but I want to know - should the winter plug be left in this drian hole while running the pump? Secondly, I have a bottom drain and do not know how to access it or do not know if it works as part of the filter system? Can anyone help?? Also the tiles at the top of the pool need replacing - is this something I can do myself?? If so how?

Some pool builders plumb the main drain to the skimmer rather than back to to the pump equipment and through a 3-way valve. The amount of suction between the skimmer and the main drain is then controlled by a rotating plate inside the skimmer (or in some cases an orfice) to cover/uncover one of the ports at the bottom of the skimmer.

Regarding the replacement of tile - it really depends on your skills. If you can re-tile a bathroom shower you should have no problem repalcing tiles around your pool.

If your new to pool ownership there is a descent CD (or down-loadable pdf file) available called Pool School. You can get it at www.poolrepair.com
I have no afiliation or intrests in promoting this site or CD. I only mention it because it helped me.
Mike

One of the holes in the bottom of the skimmer is most likely plumbed to your bottom drain (the one that doesn't generate suction when the pump is on). I believe that some suction occurs at the bottom drain as a function of the suction at the hole plumbed to the pump. On occasion I've sealed the skimmer off with a tupperware lid so that all suction was directed to the bottom drain, then used my pool brush to direct junk to it (sand actually, that my toddler threw in the pool). Other wise it doesn't seem to have enough suction to be functional.

in response to your tile problem, i would suggest taking a really deep detailed look and making a decision as to you really want to do it yourself or hire a contractor to do this. It may seem simple but some cases not. Reason i say detailed look is after knocking your tile off and seeing that there is cracking or where tile was being held/gunite is rotted or falling off very easily. The copying/ "concrete piece that is around the perimeter of your pool" may have a seperation joint and was not filled properly with caulking. And water seeps through causing problems in the winter to create the seperation between your copying and gunite causing the crack to then create tiles to fall off. Take some pictures and post them up and see what we are dealing with to better help you

Congrats on the new-to-you pool. I'm chiming in to 2nd the great thoughts from this last post- That's exactly what happened with our pool, and the results were pretty incredible! We didn't even have any tiles fall off, but tiny hairline cracks (barely visible) under the coping caused all kinds of other problems. If you have a working over-fill waste line, you might be safe from bigger issues (it turns out ours was blocked so the pool could fill up to the coping causing more leaks!). Either way posting pics will help folks here understand what your working with and advise accordingly. There are some very generous & helpful people here who will help you through.

Thanks to all for the advice!!The last post mentioned an overfill waste line? Where would I find this majic area?? Thanks again!!

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Originally Posted by kevinod77

Thanks to all for the advice!!The last post mentioned an overfill waste line? Where would I find this majic area?? Thanks again!!

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It's an innocuous looking pvc pipe in your pool wall somewhere, above the normal waterline but below the coping. Mine is about 3/4", nothing special about it, looks just like the 3/4" PVC fill line too. Mine was blocked as well, I've reamed it out but still don't know how freed up it is, I have yet to find the outfall but my pool doesn't overfill now after it rains.