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Showing results for tags 'diy leak pipe plumbing'.
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Hi all. So, I'm not sure if I can post pictures or not, I shrunk them all down so they don't take up much room. I made a single webpage also, just describing my issue, in case it's too much to put here. But here we go. The short: I found a leak, uncovered it, and now what do I do? The long: So, this is my attempt to fix a leak in the pool plumbing. I'm NOT a DIY specialist. Rather, I'm that guy that loves walking around in Home Depot, with a new idea on what I can do with every aisle. I'm that guy that buys tools that sit in the garage and take up space, never getting used. But fixing a leaky pool pipe? Dig up some dirt, find a pipe, Take out the leaky part and put in some fresh pipe. I did it with the sprinkler system, how much different can it be? Egad! The dirt is either really soft (and wet and mushy) or thick clay. At least there's not much for rocks! Most of the digging isn't toooo bad. But digging around and between pipes was a PITA! First, I will describe the basic setup of my pool. There is the pump, and attached to the pump is a spot that sucks water in. There is a valve on this, that splits between sucking from Pool or sucking from Spa. I think this is called a Jandy Valve? And of course, the 2 pipes that go OUT, with a similar valve choosing Pool or Spa. It was easy to remember which is which, it looks like a little n and a bigger n on top of it, so the little n on the IN-side is pulling water IN and the bigger n on the outside is sending water OUT. And left is Pool, right is Spa. And, I found the leak, it's on the Pool IN, which is the second pipe coming up from the left. I still haven't uncovered all the dirt yet, but I'm pretty sure I can that there is the row of 4 PVC pipes and they all connect to the 4 intake and outtake pipes. There's another pipe that goes from the filter to the street (backwash?) And there's a handful of the smaller PVC, I'm guessing that's all electric. So, first question. It LOOKS like it was copper pipe through the cement, and into the filter, and in the ground it connects to PVC. When they fixed my pump a few years back, they put in PVC for the valves, the copper still in the cement. When fixing this, do I want to use copper or PVC? And, while I'm on this project, do I want to replace the OUT pipe that is copper also, even though it's not leaking? Second question, how do I get the leak to stop long enough for me to work on this? Where is the water coming from? I have a hose from the pool vacuum plugged into the skimmer, with the other end sticking up outside the pool. Which brings me to a silly third question. Is it worse andmore harmful to have the pump running and sucking AIR or with the suction blocked? I guess if the suction is blocked, it might lose it's prime, although I really don't know what that means. So, my goal for tomorrow so far is really just to dig more around the spot where the copper meets the PVC at the bottom, and figure out how to stop the water dripping long enough to be able to get rid of more dirt. And probably chip away at more of the cement that is around the back of the pipes. The most current photo is the first one, up top of this page, and also below. Any help or comments are absolutely welcome! I have a feeling I'm farther from finished than I think.