Pump won't prime

[padamstx]

Everything had been working just fine until today when I was messing around with some of the parts to my Liquidator, trying to install the upgrade kit to it. I think when I loosened up the connection on the Liquidator inlet (on the pressure side), a bunch of water backflowed as I could hear a lot of gurgling, etc..

Anyway, after I put everything back together, I noticed the pump basket was maybe half full or a little less. Turned the pump on and it was priming for 10 minutes or so before it hit a priming timeout and shut itself off. I've been spraying water into the pump basket to try to get it completely filled back up but the hose has been going for an hour or more and no dice.

I've tried a few times to put the lid back on the pump basket and then turn it on, but it just sits in the "priming" mode and would eventually timeout. I don't get any water being sucked into the pump basket at all. Is there anything I can do other than continue to let the hose pump water into the pump basket until the suction side pipes are filled back up with water?

Thanks,
Phil

 

[JohnKrupp]

Is the water actually being drawn out of the pump though or does it stay full when you turn it on?

 

[padamstx]

When I turn on the pump it quickly pumps whatever water was in the basket and empties the basket. The pump will then continued to try to prime until it times out. When the pump goes off, a little water will backfire into the pump basket until it's about half full.

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[padamstx]

When I turn on the pump it quickly pumps whatever water was in the basket and empties the basket. The pump will then continued to try to prime until it times out. When the pump goes off, a little water will backfire into the pump basket until it's about half full.

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backflow***. **** autocorrect

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[JohnKrupp]

Start with the simple stuff, make sure its not pulling air from the skimmer. Make sure the lid is on tight and that the o ring is there. Is the pumps intake fitting a union or is it threaded into the pump?

 

[padamstx]

Pump intake is threaded. Skimmer baskets are full of water. Pump lid is always on pretty tight. Pretty sure the oring on the lid is fine, but I'll double check that when I get home.

Just stopped at a pool store to get a new wheel for my Polaris cleaner and talked to the dude about the pump priming issue. He suggested that I turn my multi port to re-circulate and see if the pump will prime then, so I'll give that a try.

Altogether, my garden hose had been running for about two hours trying to fill up the pump basket, so I'm curious where all that water is going!!!

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[JohnKrupp]

Make sure the intake fitting isn't loose or broken as that can make priming a pain, as can any other source of an air leak. Does your skimmer have a wier door? Make sure it's not stuck up. All the water you add to the trap just ends up going into the pool unless you have a big leak that it's running out of but I doubt that.

 

[kadavis]

The water is running back to pool through the suction line. Is your pump location a lot higher than your water level in the pool? This can make priming more difficult without a check valve. Try turning on the spa suction and see if it gets going, if it does slowly open pool suction and see if stays primed

 

[padamstx]

The water is running back to pool through the suction line. Is your pump location a lot higher than your water level in the pool? This can make priming more difficult without a check valve. Try turning on the spa suction and see if it gets going, if it does slowly open pool suction and see if stays primed

My property is fairly level and I'd guess that my pump is no more than 12-18" above the water level of the pool.

But I solved the problem. It turns out that my Liquidator chlorine dispenser was less than full which means the inlet valve was wide open, and I think that the air coming out of my filter (when I tried to prime the pump) was being forced into the Liquidator tubing and into the Liquidator tank. And this must have been enough to prevent the pump from creating enough suction to pull water out of the pool. I ended up just filling the Liquidator tank with my garden hose, and this caused its inlet valve to close. I then turned the pump on and it started pulling water from the pool within a few seconds just like normal.

 

[ronicr]

Can you tell me exactly how to turn the port to recirculate?