Skimmer plug got sucked through and is stuck

My friend bought a house and the pool is a nightmare! CYA over 300...
So we were attempting to drain it this afternoon. She went to the local pool store to get a plug for the skimmer so that when the water level drops, it won't suck air. The pool doesn't have a valve to switch between the skimmer and the drain. At least we haven't located it yet!
So we put the plug in, started the pump and the freakin' thing sucked the plug in. It's stuck 18'' down. About a foot from the bend. The plug is 1 1/4" - 1 1/2"... I guess it's called a rubber stop.
We tried to push it through with a snake and it's not budging.
The thing is...it doesn't change the pressure at all. It must be wedged but still letting the water by.
We took the timer clips off because we don't want it running unattended in case it becomes dislodged and moves towards the pump.

Our next step is to use the drain king at the pump end.

If we could get a corkscrew type end on a snake we could screw it in to the rubber and hopefully pull it out.
Even if the drain king forces it to the top of the skimmer hole, it's going to be a nightmare getting it out.

I would appreciate any and all ideas.

PVC? Cut it out! Splice in a new piece. Shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes. There's even rubber splicing joints available at your local Home Depot / Lowes. It's got an hose clamp at either end.

While you are at it, splice in a ball valve so you don't have to do it again.

Can you drill a hole in the stopper using a long drill extension shaft to reach down the 18"? Then bend a hook on a stiff coathanger, push it through the drilled hole, hook it and pull it out?
Al

Try a long lag bolt. Should thread into the plug and pull it out. You might have to get somebody to weld an extension on one.

Consider the deck. If it's grass, wood, pavers, etc. dig to the pipe and do like Carl says - cut it out! super easy as long as it's PVC.

If you've got concrete, then perhaps some of the other solutions would be easier...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Poconos

Can you drill a hole in the stopper using a long drill extension shaft to reach down the 18"? Then bend a hook on a stiff coathanger, push it through the drilled hole, hook it and pull it out?
Al

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I like Poconos idea. May I suggest something a little stiffer. Drill the hole, if accessible. Go to Lowes/ Home Depot and buy you a toggle bolt and a piece of All thread rod to match the hole of the toggle. Thread the toggel down a few inches. Lock the toggle on with 2 nuts (locked together behind the toggle). Ram it through the hole. You may want to lubricate the pipe first to reduce friction (dish soap or similar). That should give you plenty of back up on the plug to yank it out of the hole. Good Luck.

You could try drilling the snot out of it till it breaks apart and retrieve the pieces in the pump basket. That is if you have a 18" bit and the dexterity not to drill a hole into the side of your pipe.

Here's a thought, what if you disconnected your skimmer intake to the pump and put that on the output part of your pump, keeping your main drain as the source of intake to the pump... maybe you can blow it back out the way it came. Just make sure no one is looking down the skimmer basket when you turn it on.:eek: :eek: :eek:

Scottsdale / Shea rentals has rental pumps for 30.00. Get one of those to finish the drainning process. If water is still getting past the plug, will it be an issue if it's left in place once you refill the pool ? Is there enough volume getting past it ?

I would be concerned about debris collecting and not being able to get past the plug and evenutally clogging it all together.

If your rubber plug was the type that uses a wing nut on a screw to compress the rubber and the wingnut was on the screw far enough so that some threads were still visible, go to home depot and by a threaded coupler and a 3ft threaded rod that matches that thread size. Get an extra nut of the same thread size. Spin on the nut up the rod an inch, spin on the threaded coupler about half way on. spin the nut down to the coupler and thighten the two together so they don't spin on the rod. Take this device and slide it down the pipe and with lost of trial and error thread it onto the threads on the rubber plug. Then if your lucky you can pull it out. Let us know how you got it out.

It's surrounding by concrete and fairly new cool deck.

Anything that I use has to make the bend...because it sucked it down enough to make the bend. And I think that's where we're really buggered.
We didn't really force the 'snake' because we didn't want to lodge it further down the line.

The skimmer line is about 1.5 inches at the opening, at what point does the pipe (pvc) get larger? Because the inlet from the ground to the pump is at least a 2" inch pipe.

A lot of water is getting passed this plug. Enough so that we could prime the pool and run the pumps and it doesn't increase the pressure. It must be wedged just so. It's a trapezoid shaped plug. I don't believe it's threaded either.

The only way to isolate the skimmer is to use another plug..or that weighted space ship looking disc thing.

We painted all of her pvc white. it was brown and beginning to looked cracked...and then identified each line with a sharpee. We never found a valve to isolate the drain or the skimmer line- hence the plug.
The pump timer switch is about 40 feet (on the outside of the front of the house) from the actual pump so it makes it difficult to shut it down when you're testing any of the valves. You almost neeed three people checking suction, pressure and one to flip the switch.
AAAAAh!
It's sort of a nightmare.
I heard that there's a flexible tool with a grabber on it...you feed it down, it grabs and locks on to the item and then you can rip it out.

I like the idea of drilling it to bits because I don't see how the heck we'll pull it out once it's back to the hole.

Whoever mentioned dishwashing soap...yes yes! great idea. We're going to try the drain king while the level is high and then we'll start using a lubricate. Probaby via hose and someone with a lot of blowing power.

I will keep you posted and if you think of any other ideas...please!

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/3...thepluguf7.png

This was another idea. Basically let the suction pull one end of the rope to the skimmer basket. Tie a large knot and then pull it back through after lubricated the front end of the pipe (the area between the skimmer inlet and the stuck plug)
We can't get over to her house until Saturday and it's making me crazy!

Thanks for all the input~

Great idea! Just be careful... you basically have to tie your knot big enough so that when you pull there is enough surface area to pull against the plug. Too small and it just may slip through the space it came through... make the knot too big and you may risk it getting stuck itself around a bend on the way back to the plug. Another caution... if you are pulling the knot , it may get wedged at the plug and get stuck itself. Sorry to be devils advocate... good luck!

Put the knot in the middle of the rope so you can still pull from the pump end if it gets stuck. Lets you pull either way.
Al

Thank god there are smart people in this world!!

No kidding!
Great ideas...and thanks for playing devils advocate.
Definitely a knot in the middle. Didn't even cross my mind.

I can't wait to try it. In the meantime we're trying to keep her pool algae free with cya levels at 200-300 perhaps more.

Then I'll be off to the "stain" board.

Thanks again.

Here, the pool service company charges 75.00 for a service call. One thing is for sure, we'd have saved ALOT of money if we had just called him first thing this spring when our filter pressure was low. Instead we tried the 'do it yourself' method, and made things way worse. We ended up with all sorts of problems and set us back about 3 weeks until the pool was useable.

IMHO, I'd think about calling an expert in and let him deal with that.

But good luck either way. :)

How come I miss all the fun ones when they are first posted??
I would have to say that the odds of getting it all the way through the line to the pump are astronomicly low :( ! The way to get it back in reach (though not out, yet) is to apply lots o pressure/ volume to the pipe ie, one of the vac/ blowers the 'pros' use to set liners and blow lines. This should get it back up to the threads (but on the wrong side of them). Once you can reach it, loosen the wingnut (ie, decompress the plug) - do not remove the wingnut, it's your best grip on the plug. If you want to keep blowing on the line, you can, but you should be able to pull it out with vice grips. (Although some of the other advice already given might make an easier job of it)
The biggest problem I can see is aplying the pressure only to the skimmer line, though CarlD's answer covers hacking into the pipes (the connectors he was talking about are called Fernco's or 'no hub couplings' and should be available at any decently stocked hardware store). If you are going to cut the pipes at the filter system, install a valve on each line before reconnecting them. As it will be Sat before you 'do battle' with it again, you've got plenty of time to plan your strategy. If I can be of further assistence, or if what I've said leaves more questions than it answers, I'll check this post daily. Good Luck!! :)

I talked to a guy today that says he uses a drain king that attaches to a garden hose to create pressure in the line. I guess he gets golf balls stuck in his skimmer line often. No skimmer basket? No idea...Not really sure that will be enough but that will be the first go. Then we'll try the rope method.

doggie- I thought about calling a "professional". I have to at least try first...
It's hard to know if the "professional" will even know what he/she is talking about. If I had a referral then I would consider it a little more but I have little faith in the pool company's in my area.

I'll keep you posted for sure.

I have a ton of other questions about the equipment for her pool.

So- we tried the drain king last night. Didn't work. I think because the plug isn't completely plugging the pipe..it lets too much water by to build up pressure. Even putting a tennis ball over the suction hole doesn't create enough pressure.

We're hesitant to use the rope method now because we don't want to turn the pump on. The pressure from the pump might pull the plug closer to the pump or wedge it even tighter.

A thin coat hanger type wire won't even pass the plug because we can't see into the stinkin' pipe.

We dug to the line where it 90's to go to the pump last night. Today we'll cut it just before the 90 so we can have a straight shot at it. We'll use something rigid to cram into the pipe like 1" pvc.
We'll lubricate the pipe from the skimmer hole to the plug.
Any ideas on a type of lubricant? Something heavy that will sink and then I'll use a plugged piece of hose to push it to the plug.

My friend that's helping is a pipe fitter so he's doing everything he can without cutting the kook deck...
because that's gonna be a mess.

The good thing is- Once we get it out, we're already down to the spa and pop up jet pipes that don't work so if there's something stuck in a couple of them we can fix it while we're in there.

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/689...reeplugvo7.png

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/3...reepluggw5.png

while attempting to push a wire line and pvc to the skimmer in an effort to free the plug we found that we were hitting something hard where we thought the plug was. I think it must have been a "T" or something. maybe where it "T"s to the drain. Who the hell knows.
Anyway, we knew it wasn't rubber. SO we had already cut the line and thought perhaps the plug was between the cut and the pump. We stuck fish tap (heavy wire) in the pipe and attempted to guide it towards the pump.
It only went a few inches. We quickly cut another section and found the plug.
TOTAL LUCK. Because when your skimmer sucks something in..how the heck are you supposed to know where it is in the line?? Luckily it was where we were able to dig and super close to the first cut. I can't imagine it being wedged in the pipe under the cool deck.
I swear I will never use one of those compression plugs again. The wingnut was plastic btw and I think it failed.

Thanks for all of the ideas!
Carl D- you were so right, Cut it out! We're just lucky enough that we didn't have to cut the deck.

Now on to the other problems...:eek: