The Adventures of an aging Poolboy

[Disco Dan]

Motu - it can be done, the prob is that the pump is mounted in a particular location and orientation, which means a fair bit of replumbing and possibly jury rigging a new frame for the damn thing while we run it to try and push the plug out. Still, its got to be easier than ripping the whole lot out of the ground and relandscaping, thats for sure.

Dover - could work, anyone know of a store where they will be able to tell us what products will melt rubber but not PVC? What's toluene? Is that something you can purchase over the counter?

almost all chemicals will leach into the plastic walls of the piping, will only release risidual amounts into the water but it will still be present. (keep fish, and someone else once used my plastic bucket to wash their car and despite rinsing it out for ages, the fish all died when i used it to change water)

You will be amazed at how porus plastic can be!

[WRT]

Actually, I wonder if Bussaman is onto something, anyone clued up on making spud guns? I wonder if the same principle would work, or if we'd just wind up making a crater out of half Dad's garden . . .

[Macktheknife]

You need a garden hose and several fishing weights. Take a garden hose wedge a few 2 ounce weights into it and insert it into the pipe from the pump end, proceed until it reaches the obstruction. Then using the hose like a slide hammer, 'vigourously bash' the obstruction until it moves.
Alternatively, you can use the hose to measure the length from the pump to the obstruction so that you know exactly where to dig it up and cut out the offending plug, replacing only that bit of pipe that is blocked. At least this will tell you precisely where you need to look for the blockage and if the option is viable.
Using high pressure is not that recommended as it could blow other parts of the pipe completely.
Good luck.
Mack

[Lias]

One of those bloody big long "snake" things you use to clean drains of blockages? Should be able to buy one at a hardware store.

Shove that in at the pump end and try and push it back out the other end?

[The_Dover]

I think Mac has used that one to dislodge dead gerbils before..........

To be honest, I'd just be a right cunt and say "yeah, the spa works great! beautiful in the summer"

and then bank the cheque.....chances are the pump is fucked from not being used for a few years anyway.

[WRT]

We tried using a hose to measure where the plug is, but by the time it's gone round a few bends there's so much resistance on it that it's hard to tell if you have come up against the plug or not.

And you're probably right about the pressure thing, maybe a spud gun arrangement isnt the right way to go about it (I just liked the idea of using explosives . . .)

[Damon]

buy a cap for the pipe then put a small hole in it to put a compressor up to, put a small foam ball in it that will make a tight seal with the pipe and blow, do it from the pump end and the ball should push the plug back the way it came, i saw it a couple of weeks ago on discovery for cleaning concrete out of concrete pump lines, worked awesome

[Disco Dan]

looks like lots of ideas to try!

my 2c, is leave the chemical methods till last! just in case!

[WRT]

Damon - might need too much pressure tho. The plugs wedged in there pretty good now, and it would take a fairly grunty compressor wouldnt it?

[The_Dover]

Get a trained hamster to go up the pipe and gnaw away at the plug until you can wash it out with very little pressure.

Maurice has one you can borrow.

[Ixion]

find a solvent that degrades rubber but wont damage the pvc pipe and melt the bastard out.

Doubt you'll find a solvent that will DISSOLVE natural rubber without affecting PVC. Lots os solvents will bugger the rubber up and soften it, but most of them will actually make the rubber swell, which is what you don't want.

Damon's on to it. Air hose into the pipe on the other side and blow the sucker back out again. And you can regulate the pressure , just wind it up until it moves. You can hire air compressors for half a day.

[Damon]

the other option would be to talk to pool or pump people to see if they have delt with it before and what they did

[Filterer]

I would have thought the most obvious would be to ring up a drain unblocker. The gus that have long rod with a camera on the end to discover the problem, that way they can measure the distance to the obstruction (by the amount of cable inserted) and because theres a camera you can tell if youve just hit a bend or if you have hit the plug. Might cost you a couple of hundred but will save how many hours fucking around

[ManDownUnder]

My thoughs... there are 2 discrete problems here

Where is the plug, and what do you do about it.

1) Locate the plug in the pipe. Could be done using a conduit mouse (any plumber will have one) or pissibly attaching a vacuum cleaner suction to one end of the pipe and feed string in from the other end.

If there is no gap around the plug the conduit mouse will hit it and stop. You get an accurate measure of where the thing is

or... if there is a gap around it, the string will be sucked through that gap. Attach a tail of some sort to the string that will stop when it hits the plug (a bit of paper or cardboard in the shape of a bowtie comes to mind?)

Having located the problem then
2) Remove it. If the pipes are exposed, cut a decent sized section out - like a 300mm before, and 300mm after the plug's location. Get a broom handle, poke the plug out, and PVC cement the section back in (complete with proper jointers etc.

If the pipes are not exposed, you get a good idea where to dig/access them - then see my point above.

[WRT]

Might give a few of these methods a go then call in the experts as Speedie says. Dad did try calling the guy that he'd brought the plug off, but he'd sold the business and the new guys input was limited to something along the lines of "Oh, bugger!"