©aravan®ay wrote:I come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder
Yeah, it sounds like the suction line. We use a CO2 tank to blow out lines, but there is an inexpensive device that you can purchase at you local hardware store called a "drain jet". it may not go by that name there, so I'll enplane it.
It screws on to the end of your garden hose
It is a rubber or canvas blow bag looking thing
You hook it to the hose and insert it in the suction line
on the pump end and turn on the hose. The drain jet will quickly expand in the line and create pressure in the suction line blowing any debris back out through the skimmer.
It's important to blow the debris from the pump towards the skimmer. If you blow from the skimmer to the pump, the debris call become lodged in the line worse.
If you have two people, you can do the same thing by wrapping a wet rag around the end of the hose about 6 inches from the end. You want to wrap the rag just big enough to slightly fit in the pipe and create a block so that pressure can build in the line. This eliminates the need for the drain jet device. Have one person hold the ragged hose in the line while the other turns on the hose. I suggest you be the "turn on the hose guy" because the "hold the hose guy" gets wet. Then go watch the skimmer to see if it's flowing freely. Actually, I guess I should have said "flowing smoothly". Because it would have to be in the United States to be flowing "freely"...BAM! ~
Steven Colbert
EDIT:
I google a picture of a drain jet. Handy to have around.