drew12233

I bought a home that has an older above ground pool with a center drain. The liner is to be changed but I need to drain it of the 2 feet of water still left there. I was told to put a garden hose in the skimmer (the water line is way below the skimmer) and turn it on until the pipes fills up, then switch it to "Full Drain" on the valve below the skimmer in order to make sure there is no air in the piping. The trouble is that the pipes never fill up. Its as though the hose is just pumping water back in through the center drain and never emptying. So the pump eventually just runs empty and the water is not draining. I know that you can use a hose or a sump pump to do the job but I want to make sure it is working from the center drain. I figure the center drain is working because when I detach the piping from it the water spews out. But when I put the pump on, it is not emptying. The setup is that there is one pipe from the pump to the valve below the skimmer and one pipe from the center drain exit to the same valve, which can be put on varios settings (1/2 and 1/2, full drain, full skimmer and closed). Anyone have any ideas about how I can get this thing working? Thanks