eryk

I'm a new owner of an old gunite inground pool that came with a house I just purchases (foreclosure). It was apparently winterized about 2 yrs ago and has not been used since. A vinyl cover is on top of the pool but the center has gotten water on it and it has sunk to the bottom. Now it is home to many frogs. A local pool rep came by and took a look at the filter and pump and said that every thing looks winterized. But could not explain the use of one of the pipes that was sticking out of the ground and open to the atmosphere. I'm wondering if anyone could help me understand what pipe is what. There are four pipes comming out of the ground. -Two pipes Tee into each other to combine as one which goes into the pump. There is then a pipe from the pump to the filter. I believe these two pipes are the skimmer and filter pipes. -The third pipe out from the ground goes directly into the filter. I believe this is the return line from the filter. I should mention the filter also has a separate pipe open to the outside. I think this is to empty the filter. -The fourth pipe simply sticks out of the ground open to the atmosphere. I can see it has water in it. I don't know what it is used for. Any ideas? This is the one that I am concerned about. I live in NY so I am worried about pipes with water in them freezing and breaking. Everything that I can see sticking out of the ground is a black flexible pipe but I'm not sure what is below ground. Should I be concerned with this pipe or for that matter any water that may be in the pipes below? I'm not going to open it until next summer and I cannot get inside the pool to see if the ports in the pool are properly plugged up due the the cover being full of water. So does any one have any suggestions as to what I can do to make sure that the pool is properly winterized? Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks! Eryk