Open pOol

[shawnlisa1]

I am trying to open our in ground pool. When it was closed the lines were filled with anti freeze. When i hooked everything up, I then tried to prime the pump to begin a back wash. I did not remove the covers of the air jets. I did remove the gizmo from the filter. I need toi backwash-lower the water level to remove the plugs to drain the anti freeze but the pump does not run and the back wash does not occur. ANy ideas?

[nicksmom]

Not sure I'm reading your post correctly...

Did you forget to remove the return line plugs when you opened? If so, don't worry about draining the water to below the level of the returns. In reality, the amount of anti-freeze is small when compared to your pool water volume. We have sometimes shopvac'd the antifreeze out, other times just blown the lines out and the antifreeze goes into the water.

Don't try to run your pump/filter until you remove the plugs. The water won't have anywhere to go and you will risk damage to your filter and lines, I think.

So, first...remove the plugs. Then, add water to about 2-3" above the bottom of your filter basket inlet. Make sure all your connections between your pump and filter are tight. Fill your pump with water, before you start it. Keep your pressure guage off the filter, and start the pump on backwash. When you get a steady stream of water out of the pressure guage valve, stop the pump, put the pressure guage in, and restart your pump. Put it on "filter" and add your chemicals (shock or whatever you're going to use) to start killing off the algae. Brush, vacuum, repeat. If you have lots of yuck, you can vacuum with your filter set to waste.

Hope this helps.

[Bjorn]

Have you fixed the problem?