VS Pump Suction, Discharge, and Air Bubblest

[cbabula]

Hello TroubleFree,

looking for some help in diagnosing air bubbles in my VS Pentair Intelliflo 3HP pump strainer basket. There is a pretty steady air bubble that is present under normal operation regardless of speed that has been present since installation. I attempted to check the new plumbing by pouring water over all joints to see if air disappeared but was unsuccessful. The interesting thing is thing is that I recently went to discharge water from pool via waste outlet on multi port and during this operation no air bubble.

normal filter operation... Suction 5 psi. Discharge 15 psi... Filter 15 psi
waste operation... Suction 10 psi... Discharge 10 psi

all lines in pool are 1.5" but I upgraded to 2" on the equipment pad. Running pump at 2350 rpm

Do do I actually have a leak on suction?

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!

Is air filling the filter?
Is air entering the pool?
Or do you just see a bubble sitting at the top off the pump lid? This is not uncommon, especially when running at lower speeds.

 

[cbabula]

Hey thanks for the quick reply!

very little to no air in filter when bleeding
no air bubbles in return jets
just see a bubble in filter basket, but was unsure why i get a higher suction and no air bubble when put in waste. I did the plumbing myself so wanted to make sure there were no leaks that I need to address.

so you think it's fine?

 

[jblizzle]

On waste, you are just able to achieve a higher flow rate which clears the bubble out of the pump.
If you are not getting a build-up in the filter or seeing a lot of small bubbles spinning around the pump, you are likely fine.

 

[Agent99]

My IntelliFlo usually has a few bubbles sitting on top of the strainer basket caught in the "spider-web" of the lid and everything appears to be working well. My pump primes in under 10 seconds regardless.

I'm sleeping fine at night with it.

 

[skylar18]

That is normal, especially at lower speeds.