Very little water in pump

[Bart]

I'm new to the pool world. My pool was just finished and filled Oct 6th. Since then, I noticed air in the little chamber (with a filter basket) before the pump. It was half air and half water. I mentioned to the pool guy when he was measuring for the cover and he took off the cap, cleaned off the gasket and put it back together. We turned the pump back on and it completely filled up with water and looked great. I checked it about an hour later, just before he left, and it was back to the original, half-full/half-empty state. This time he took it apart and applied some teflon sealant around the gasket and when we started it up it looked good again.

Well, I looked at it the other day (Thursday) and it was back to the half-full/half-empty state that I started with, so I called the pool company to get someone out here to fix it. At this point everything was working fine - the skimmers, the Polaris, and the pressure on the filter was right in the middle.

When I checked it today (Saturday), the pump was making a funny noise and the little chamber was at least 3/4 empty. The pump was warm, and the pressure on the filter was zero. The skimmers were not working and the Polaris was not working. I turned everything off and took the top off the little chamber before the pump and steam came out! The little bit of water in the bottom of the chamber was HOT! (From the pump, not from a pool heater).

I called the pool company again to get someone out here immediately and the guy on the phone told me the impeller was probably full of crud and it wasn't allowing the pump to work properly. I made it very clear that two days ago everything was working normally and the pressure wasn't high or low. I also told the story about the half-full chamber that's never worked properly. But he stuck with the clogged up impeller theory.

What does anyone think about this?

Thanks,
Bart

 

[mas985]

If the filter pressure is normal, then it probably isn't a clogged impeller and more likely to be a leak. But double check the pump inlet to see if anything is in there.

 

[Bart]

Thanks Mark.

I didn't see any water around the pump or any other place it shouldn't be, but I didn't really do a big search when the pump was running. The water level in the pool hasn't changed if that means anything. The thing that gets me is on Thursday everything was fine and on Saturday nothing was working.

The tech is coming tomorrow so hopefully I'll know more then.

 

[Melt In The Sun]

Bart, it sounds like there is a suction-side leak (or possibly a blockage) that is letting air into the system. This should be fixed by the builder. There should not by any air in the pump basket when the pump is running......well, a few tiny bubbles won't hurt the pump and things will run just fine, but with a brand new pool I would not accept any bubbles.

Also, since the pump lost prime (wasn't pumping any water) for a decent amount of time, keep an eye on the pump and see if it starts to drip a little water underneath it. Running dry/hot can damage the seals in the pump, and if that is the case, they should replace that as well. None of this should be your responsibility at this point.