Found where the air is coming from

[ashley79]

I'm only a few days from my intro post. Went outside last night to find my pump leaking right at the top entry to the pipe. Tell me there's hope. I don't even knew if I should be running my pump? Is there a temp fix to this?

 

[jblizzle]

Is it leaking onto the motor? If not, it is really not a big deal. I think one of my valves is leaking more than this

Can you zoom out on the picture? There is no easy way to fix that without having to remove some of the PVC and start over.

 

[JVTrain]

You're fine running your pump. Especially since it's on the output or pressure side of the pump rather than the suction side. You'll just be losing some water constantly from your pool. Hard to tell how much water you're losing though.

The most permanent fix would be to replumb the line from the pump to the filter. Those threaded fittings are evil and notoriously fussy to get right with no leaks. I still have one that I'm going to fix some time this year leading out of my multiport valve...

 

[jblizzle]

Although to be clear, this leak is on the pressure side of the pump would would not be a source of air getting into the pump/filter/pool, except when the pump is off, this leak could allow the pump to drain.

 

[duraleigh]

Yeah, like blizzle says, if it's leaking there, it will leak air (pump off) and then water (pump on)

 

[ashley79]

Thank you so very much for the fast responses. Here's a zoomed out pic. I don't believe it's dripping onto the motor; it looks like it's starting on the right side (looking at the pump) and dripping down the sides. Should I do anything to it or just leave it alone?

 

[jblizzle]

If it is not pouring out, I might not worry about it for now.

Assuming there is enough pipe right above the pump, you might be able to cut the pipe right in the middle and fit a union in there. You may also need to cut the pipe going down to the filter and add fitting or another union there to keep the spacing correct. Once cut out, unscrew the fitting from the pump, clean it up, put some teflon paste on the threads and screw it back in. Put the unions on and hope you stopped the leak. If not, remove the unions and try again.

 

[Isaac-1]

I suspect when you get around to fixing it you will find the threads are more cone shaped than they should be and this is causing the leak. This is what happens when PVC overheats such as when a pump is ran dry, or there is another source of heat such as chemicals being added into the skimmer.