Garden hose stuck in skimmer line

[bernerfan]

Okay- I now know it was a stupid idea. I think I have a clog in my skimmer line do I took the basket off and put the garden hose down to flush it. Now my garden hose is stuck in the line. Any ideas or am I gonna have to dig up the line?

[TSH Tech]

(laughing) yeah, that wasn't the best idea. Next time, use a plumbers expandable flush tube attachment.

Here's what you do. Turn the hose on full power and basically, begin trying to jiggle, twist the hose as a plumber would with a sewer pipe cable. Push & pull, twist, to see if you can get get it to un-lodge out of a 90 degree pipe or release from a coupling seam. Be patient and keep trying. With the water hose on and without.

If you decide to dig up the line, I can't begin to describe how much you will be hating life trying to dig up a skimmer. I can't begin to describe to you the "Oh s..." moment you will have digging a skimmer up. Sometimes skimmers are encased in concrete, sometimes they're not. Pipe n' all. No pool builder will plumb skimmers alike. I've seen clean, straight forward plumbing jobs, and I've seen a pretzel of 90 degree fittings coming out of the skimmer.
The absolute worst case scenario if you can't get that hose out, is hire a pool contractor to do a skimmer replacement.