Losing prime everytime we turn off pump....

[Torsie]

Started a couple of days ago. Everytime we turn off the pump you can hear
this big "whooshing" (for lack of a better term) noise and all of the water
goes out of the pump basket. It's like we have to prime the pump when first
starting up the pool. Takes a long time and then the pump basket will stay
full and everything operates fine....until evening when we turn the pump off
again and then "whoosh" the water is gone again.
Any ideas or what other info I need to give for you guys to help?

Thanks, Torsie

 

[Bama Rambler]

It sounds like air is getting into the filter and pushing the water out of the pump whenever you shut it off. Can you see air in the pump basket while the pump is running?

There are a few common places where air usually gets into the system at.
1. The pump strainer basket is the most common. Take it off and clean and lube the o-ring and sealing surfaces there.
2. Check the skimmer to see if it's creating a vortex thereby sucking in air. If it is, try raising the water level in the pool
3. Check the skimmer weir (flapper door) to make sure it's operating freely and not sticking.
4. The pump drain plug. Remove the plug and clean the threads and t-tape them and thread it back into the drain.

Temporarly until you find where the air is getting in at you can go out right before you turn the pump off and bleed out any air in the filter with the air bleed valve and see if the pump stays primed.

 

[madwil]

sounds like an air leak on the discharge side, letting all the water flow back to pool... look for any leaks while pump is running

darn- I'm the slow typer today! What Bama said...

 

[RobbieH]

Mine was caused by an air leak around the pump skimmer basket and another at the plug/drain at the bottom of the skimmer basket. Once those were fixed, no more losing prime.

 

[Torsie]

Thanks for the responses folks. We will check all of these things and hopefully something will
help and it won't be a big deal.

 

[Kes]

And mine was caused by a disintegrating multi-port valve gasket. Now it holds for several hours.

 

[Torsie]

Okay folks. Thanks for your replies and we bought a new O Ring for the
pump basket and so far we are not losing prime. Also, it was leaking some
each time we turned it off and it no longer does that. Hopefully that takes
care of our problem.
Thanks everyone you're the best!!

 

[ThePoolNinja]

Simple O-Ring Fix, nice! If you don't already have one, you may want to install a check valve as well. Good luck.