Bottom Drain - Newbie Needs Advice

I have a 38x18 pool that was constructed in '56 and I bought the house last year. I have never seen water go into the botton drain, only through the skimmer. I have also never attempted to drain the pool. My skimmer has two openings under the basket with a swiveling flap that can cover one or the other. One of these goes direct to the pump, and I can attach the vaccuum to it for successful cleaning.

1. What is the other opening? Does it go to the bottom drain?

2. Should I be concerned that no water gets drawn into that drain? And if so, how can I unclog it?

(Proudly, I HAVE figured out the rest of the system on my own - including replacing the freaking chlorinator system with a new one)

The hole in the skimmer is probably the pipe to the bottom drain. Some pools have the bottom drain run to the skimmer and then from the skimmer to the pump. If it is not clogged, some water will be pulled from the bottom, up through the skimmer and circulated. If you manually push the weir (the skimmer door) closed, you should be able to detect if you get water coming from the bottom drain. Sorry, as my drain has never clogged, I can't help on unclogging the bottom drain.

If your pool is staying clear, I would not worry too much about not having the bottom drain functional. Some pools are built without one.

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Originally Posted by windfix

I have a 38x18 pool that was constructed in '56 and I bought the house last year. I have never seen water go into the botton drain, only through the skimmer. I have also never attempted to drain the pool. My skimmer has two openings under the basket with a swiveling flap that can cover one or the other. One of these goes direct to the pump, and I can attach the vaccuum to it for successful cleaning.

1. What is the other opening? Does it go to the bottom drain?

2. Should I be concerned that no water gets drawn into that drain? And if so, how can I unclog it?

(Proudly, I HAVE figured out the rest of the system on my own - including replacing the freaking chlorinator system with a new one)

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I have never seen water go into my bottom drain either but I know it does. Why would you expect to "see" water move at the bottom of the pool? Unless there is dirt or leaves near it, you will probably not see any movement at all.

If you really want to see if the bottom drain is working, you can place a plastic bag grocery bag near the drain (put the bag handle around a pole brush so you can pull it back out) and see if it gets sucked to the top of ithe drain. If the water was warmer, you can also use a small amount of food coloring to see if it moves in the drain.

As for the ports in the skimmer, you are correct. One goes to the pump and the other to the bottom drain. The flap is to adjust the water flow from the main drain but I would leave it all the way open.

Thanks, at least I had a good guess that the second skimmer hole went to the bottom drain.

I know that it is not working, as I can stir up tiny leaf fragments from the drain cover (white, criss-crossed grid) - they would have been sucked through if there was any circulation.

Any advice on unclogging?

At the hardware store they have a hose attachement made by Drain King that expands when pressure is applied. They use the device for cleaning out pipes so chemicals do not have to be used. Here is one for a 3"-4" pipe but I know they make one for 2" as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Water-Products...0?ie=UTF8&s=hi

Put this in the main drain outlet in the skimmer and see if you can back flush the blockage out of the drain.

Thanks, I will order one and try it!

BTW, I put a plunger on the opening in the skimmer. I could see bits of stuff come back up through the bottom drain, but it did not open up.

If the drain king attachment doesn't do it, I'll rent or buy a drain snake at Home Depot and try that too

Hey Windfix: It sounds like we may have the same setup. I posted basically the same question back in April. Sorry, I don't know how to attach the link to my question and pictures from this forum, but if you search under name "TBATTI" under "pool construction and repair", I would be intersested to see if you have the same situation as I do. I included some pictures of an opening in my deck where both the skimmer and the bottom drain feed into a box. Someone told me that back in the 50's, the filter was situated in front of the pump and that was why both the skimmer and the drain fed into one place. At any rate, it you can find my original post, I would be interested to see if you have the same setup.

Edit: To attach a link just copy and paste the URL found in the address after doing the search. This may be the thread you're referring to.
http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=923
Al

OK, so problem solved. The drain king did the trick. I put it down the hole via the skimmer port as far as the garden hose would go with the 10" drain king attachement, turned on the water and blammo - bubbles and crud came up through the pool drain cover.

Unfortunately, I also wasted $30 on a KleerDrain gizmo at Home Depot that was supposed to fire a CO2 cartridge down the drain. It probably just did not fit tight enough into the pipe opening, but this gizmo did nothing. The $10 Drain King was an immediate fix and far cheaper.

Saw your photos, not quite the same. My skimmer port is circular and white. Both the pipe to the pump/filter/chlorinator and the pipe back to the pool drain are on the bottom of it (you have the first on the bottom and, ostensibly, the second on the side wall of the skimmer box/port)

Windfix, welcome to the forum!!:) Glad you were able to dislodge the clog.

Hayward makes a product that you might want to consider looking into that helps provide more suction through the MD opening to the skimmer. I'm sorry that I don't have the part #, but I'll describe it - it's an oval that covers both ports on the skimmer bottom, is about 2 1/2" high with an open 1 1/2" hole in the top at one end, has a butterfly valve to regulate the suction ( a ss "T" on the side - originals have red caps on the 2 ends of the "T" and is secured with 2 long screws into the holes in the bottom of the skimmer (one of them is where your 'flap' is secured. You may have one with the pool stuff that the old owners left you. This thing definately works for Hayward skimmers, if your skimmer isn't a Hayward, you may be able to find a similar device from the manufacturer. If you can find one of these and need any help with it, please don't hesitate to ask me about it.

Congrats on comming here and learning as much as you have, again, welcome to the forum! - Waste