Pump won't prime

[Taylor2010]

Hello,

Our pump was working fine up until a week ago. We flipped the pump off to backwash since we had some bubbles coming into the return directionals. Since then we can not get the pump to prime for the life of me! We've replaced the O-rings and lubed them on both pump and sand filter. We also replaced the spider gasket in the filter head. The water is 3/4 up the skimmer, we've placed a hose in the lines from the pump to the skimmer to see if there was a clogged- doesn't seem like it. We've tried on port one and port two as well as on back wash and on recirc.

The pump will suck what is already in the pump up but it won't pull more water in through the lines. We have a pinnacle high speed pump, and an in ground pool. I am at a loss and about to pay 150 for pressure testing.. Help? Ideas?

 

[Texas Splash]

Hello and welcome to TFP! Looking back, bubbles from the return jets points to some air getting pulled-in. This would typically happen on the suction side. So when you turned-off the pump, I suspect wherever air was getting pulled-in from appears to be too much to overcome preventing the pump from reaching full prime. Any suction-side air leak coming=in would have to be from the poolside skimmer to the pump, to include the drain plug on the pump basket - maybe even the pump seal separating the wet end front the dry-end. Here is the Pool School - Suction Side Air Leaks page in case you haven't already seen it. Check closely any 3-way valves or fitting before the pump. Try the running water trick or even wrapping an area with plastic wrap to see if that helps to ID a suspected air leak.

 

[proavia]

How long are you letting the pump run to try to prime it? Sometimes it may take 2-3 minutes to get it to prime.

If that doesn't work, you may want to review this Pool School article: Suction Side Air Leaks

EDIT: I see Pat has you covered!

 

[Catanzaro]

How is your pool set up? Try priming the pump from one area in the suction side. For example, I have 2 main drains and 2 skimmers. When I loose prime because I lift the vacuum out of the pool, or for any other reason, I go back and close off the skimmers and prime from main drain. I use the same method for opening the pool. As you build pressure, then slowly open up other suction areas.