Oops! I ran pump with valve set to 'closed' - possible damage?

[Achilles]

Hi everyone,

So, I was all excited last night to install a new liquid filled pressure gauge on my filter (yeah, it's the little things in life...). I removed the old gauge and had a little stream of water coming out, so I thought I'd be smart and just move the filter selector valve to 'closed' while I put in the new gauge. Worked great, until this morning when I noticed my water level was below the wall skimmer. Turns out I ran the pump all night with the valve closed, and sometime along the way, the hose from the pump to the selector valve unseated itself from the selector valve, and thus I pumped water out of my pool until it went below the skimmer.

Any suggestions as to what I should inspect for damage from my brilliant maneuver? I am assuming that the pump pressurized the hose from the pump to the valve body and eventually caused it to pop off. I've inspected the valve body, and I don't see any cracks where the hose threads in.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[pooldv]

Ooops! That takes some fun out of that! The only other thing is to check for heat damage at the pump fittings. But, if you can connect it back up and it runs with no leaks then you are good to go.

 

[Achilles]

Thanks for the info. I hooked it back up and no leaks, and everything seems OK.

However, a follow-on question - one that I've been pondering for a while. Because my water level is below the skimmer (and I'm close to closing for the season so don't really want to refill it), I threaded a hose fitting into the bottom of the skimmer basket to use my vacuum (with 25' hose) as the supply to the pump. This is how I usually vacuum the pool. However, when I do this, it seems my pump can pump away the water faster than water from the pool is supplied. When this happens, the filter basket gets half filled with air, the pump in turn cavitates and doesn't pump as fast and sends air bubbles thru the filter and back to the pool. Then the filter basket fills up a bit, giving enough water to prime the pump, which then surges and pumps all the water away again, restarting the cycle. This also happens in a similar way when using the wall skimmer (not the vac) when the water level gets toward the low side. It has done this since new.

I realize that those are two separate scenarios which might have different root causes. Does the vacuum issue indicate that I may have air leaking in somewhere on the supply to the pump? Or is the pump too strong for my supply line diameter? Or? I guess I wonder where the air in the filter basket would come from if it's not a leak - if were perfectly sealed wouldn't it just pull harder on the water thru the vac line? How would I check?

So many questions! Thanks again.
Rob

 

[duraleigh]

Does the vacuum issue indicate that I may have air leaking in somewhere on the supply to the pump?

Yes, you have a suction side leak. There is an article in pool school that may help you.

Find and fix that leak and that issue is solved!