Black hats leaking

[Michelle22]

I put the black hat plugs in my Intex holes for the winter and thought that's what had been suggested here. I don't use those ports at all, but they fit fine during warm weather. In the winter, the ice pushes and pulls on them and they work loose and water drains from the holes. Thoughts for next year? Is there an actual plug anyone has found that works?

 

[Michelle22]

PS....the water was below those ports earlier in the season, but precipitation raised my water line and that's how this happened. I would just like to not worry about it. I'm draining water out with a hose right now to get the draining to stop tonight.

I'm considering patching over those holes permanently once the ice melts, but what would you put behind the patch to keep the liner from being pushed into the hole?

 

[Texas Splash]

@jseyfert3 may have an idea or two.

 

[Mdragger88]

Did u only use the black hats? There are fittings that go in those holes & most people use those as well - they help keep the blackhat things in place.
Also did u cut new holes for your returns / skimmer?
Many who do so do it in the same spot as those holes so they don’t have them anymore & can just use normal screw in plugs in their return fitting.
Just Trying to get an idea of what u have going on.

 

[Michelle22]

Did u only use the black hats? There are fittings that go in those holes & most people use those as well - they help keep the blackhat things in place.
Also did u cut new holes for your returns / skimmer?
Many who do so do it in the same spot as those holes so they don’t have them anymore & can just use normal screw in plugs in their return fitting.
Just Trying to get an idea of what u have going on.

I didn't use the fittings because I thought that would be even more for the ice to push around and there's no way to secure them from the outside that I can tell. Also, because they fit well in the summer I *assumed* it would be similar in the winter. My skimmer is higher than those holes, but I did cut it in, yes.

 

[Mdragger88]

Your other option going forward is to just leave the holes open thus allowing water to escape when it gets too high.
If you use a winter cover you would need to keep that pumped off to prevent displacement from pushing water out through the holes & making the area chronically wet.
Patching the completely unused holes is a good idea - some people have patched their drain hole in a similar fashion because it leaks or causes problems with winterizing like you’re describing & they would use a submersible pump to actually drain the pool anyway.

 

[Michelle22]

I may just patch all of those holes (drain and in/out). Thanks! I am not using a winter cover this year. If it works out, hope I never need to.

 

[Michelle22]

I just need to figure out what to put over the holes on the inside of the pool....any thoughts?

Edit - I'm thinking I will fill the nipples with silicone and cap them off outside with some sort of pvc/plastic/rubber cap. I can shove some kind of disc flat in to the hole (think backgammon stone) and cover with liner pieces from my old 15' blue Intex on the inside. I have lots of time to work through this thought process because I doubt it's warm enough to do this any time soon. hah

 

[jseyfert3]

If you originally had the water below the holes, there really was no need for the plugs. You can just leave them out and let the water drain out as it will, I think. I don’t think that would be an issue.

How did you install your plugs? I installed mine from the inside and they have been fine. But they have been underwater all winter, as I wanted my water level higher than the holes are.

 

[Michelle22]

I had the round part of the hat pushed in to the hole from the inside of the pool and the water level was between those holes and my skimmer...but the thick ice has pulled them out of the holes a couple times and I just shove them back in. As of tonight the hats are not in the pool because they were so deformed and cold I just brought them in before they ended up at the bottom of the pool.

 

[jseyfert3]

Interesting. That's how mine is too. The plugs were in all summer and I haven't had any issues with them once things froze either. This is my first winter using them, last winter I had the water below the level of the holes.

 

[Woodstock1234]

I use the top hats on the inside and rubber plugs on the outside. The kind that have the screw in the middle to expand them to the size of the hole. I don' t drain any water before winter and this has seemed to work.

 

[Michelle22]

Thanks, I thought about those, but I wonder if the screws rust with salt water? I think I'll just patch those holes for good. They aren't needed for anything in my set up and if they ever are, I could cut them open or just make new holes. Thanks everyone.

 

[jseyfert3]

Update: I took a look at my inlets and there was some ice on the tubes coming out and some on the ground (just a little), indicating at least some small amount of leaking may some point, but it was not actively leaking.

 

[cj133]

There was someone on here who left a return or something hole open during the winter and the water managed to flow out and freeze in the opening. Then I believe, it rained / snowed etc and that melted causing the ice to go up and destroy the edge of the pool because it drove that "pin" up with the ice.

Don't forget the slab of ice is floating on the water so when the water goes up under the ice, the ice goes up and if it catches anything, it's going up with it.

 

[Michelle22]

Don't forget the slab of ice is floating on the water so when the water goes up under the ice, the ice goes up and if it catches anything, it's going up with it.

This is exactly what's happened to my plugs. Can't wait to patch them as soon as I get a couple warm days!

 

[phonedave]

I had the same issue with the rubber expanding plugs when I had an Aqualuminator (through return light). It had a smooth bore that could not be easily removed. I used to plug it with a expanding rubber plug. Once year the ice was at the right level to freeze around the wing nut. Then it shifted and pulled out the plug and drained my pool down to the return.

I have since removed that Aqualuminator (for many reasons) and now use a threaded plug with no issues.