"duck" plugs vs "bungee" plugs for pool closings. Users?

[johnny pool]

I purchased the bungee type plugs (Aqua Group) last year for closing off my return lines into the pool and like the concept but my large shopvac had a very hard time creating enough force to open them so that the water can be blown out of the line. I now see Anderson makes a "winter duck plug" that operates on a somewhat similar principal.

Would greatly appreciate any comments on the use of these plugs. I think i read something last year about soaking the bungee plugs in hot water right before using them in order to soften up the rubber to make them stretch easier. Would also consider switching to the duck type plug although i see some reviews where people said they leaked, others said they have used them for 20 years with no issues. Of course this is a critical device and must be foolproof because of the obvious downside of potential frozen pipes if they leak.

Thanks. John

 

[Bperry]

I purchased the bungee type plugs (Aqua Group) last year for closing off my return lines into the pool and like the concept but my large shopvac had a very hard time creating enough force to open them so that the water can be blown out of the line. I now see Anderson makes a "winter duck plug" that operates on a somewhat similar principal.

Would greatly appreciate any comments on the use of these plugs. I think i read something last year about soaking the bungee plugs in hot water right before using them in order to soften up the rubber to make them stretch easier. Would also consider switching to the duck type plug although i see some reviews where people said they leaked, others said they have used them for 20 years with no issues. Of course this is a critical device and must be foolproof because of the obvious downside of potential frozen pipes if they leak.

Thanks. John

I’ve used the bungee plugs and the issue I had was that the plug won’t screw in enough to compress the o-ring so they were useless. So I’ve resorted to just screwing on a hard plug with Teflon tape while the air is going.

If you like those plugs you might invest in a cyclone blower as they are way better than a shop vac and would easily open those bungee plugs.

 

[johnny pool]

I’ve used the bungee plugs and the issue I had was that the plug won’t screw in enough to compress the o-ring so they were useless. So I’ve resorted to just screwing on a hard plug with Teflon tape while the air is going.

If you like those plugs you might invest in a cyclone blower as they are way better than a shop vac and would easily open those bungee plugs.

Thanks for the quick response. I've read that these blowers are powerful, I just cant justify the purchase of a $350 blower that would have no other function than the 5 minutes each year it takes to blow out the lines.

 

[Saturn94]

I used the duck plugs for years without issue. That said, freezing isn’t a big issue here in SE VA.

Last winter I tried the bungee style plugs, and like you, had an issue with the shop vac having enough oomph to push out the plugs. This wasn’t an issue with the duck plugs. This winter I’m going to try a couple different things to see if I can get better results with the shop vac. I’d like to avoid having to get a cyclone blower as they are expensive.

 

[Newdude]

+1 on the cyclone. It'll do sprinklers too which is another sucky fall expense for many of us. Or if you ever had a plumbing back up / flood, they'd move lots of air in the direction that needed drying out once you sucked up the standing water.

It made sense to let the safety cover installer close last year as id have short notice when the cover came in, but they wanted well above $700 to close my pool (I spit out my coffee at 'seven hun' and missed the rest of it). The cyclone would be 'free' halfway though the job.

Here's 2 other options, but the large shop vac is critical because the little guys just dont have the ooomph and my blower, while useful elsewhere, was $675.

Closing with shop vac.

Today was the day for closing and it went great with a 6HP shop vac. I hooked my blower up for fun after, and there really wasn't much left but some spray. Anywho I wanted to do a write up for all the folks wondering if they could save a chunk of change and tackle their own closing...

www.troublefreepool.com

I was excited to try a duck plug upon moving and inheriting an aboveground. It was really chintzy and the duck lips were thin rubber flaps that didn't seem like they'd hold up, but there was an equally chintzy cap which absolved that. Come spring, the ice had popped the cap off leaving the rubber lips exposed for an undisclosed amount of time. I've never used the bungee plugs but they appear much more robust. I'd inspect them yearly and replace at the first sign they lost some tensile strength, being cheap and all. I replace my gizzmos every 5 or so years if they haven't shown problems sooner, and I'd likely do the same with bungee plugs.