No main drain valve

[juvefc]

Hi all, need some help. We purchased an older home a few years ago and these homes always had their filters installed in the basement. Weird i know! Anyway, this year we decided to hire a company to put the filter outside and re-run all the piping. Today i went to start her up to drain the pool because we were going to paint yet i cannot for the life of me understand how they did this. Usually i will have a main drain valve and a skimmer valve which will draw water from the pool into the filter. Well there is not valve so there is no water running into the filter. I tried to run the filter for like 30 secs without any water and nothing. I stopped it because i know it could cause issues.

I've looked everywhere for a valve and see nothing. Could there be any other way of drawing water from the pool into the filter? I'll go take a pic soon.

[Teapot]

It is quite common for pool builders to connect the main drain to the second hole in the skimmer. Thus scuppering you from doing what you want.
I personally hate that idea and always run a separate pipe so I can control everything.
It's not weird to have plumbing and filter in the basement.