I will try to post this question in the correct forum 
. Below is a picture of the suction side of my pump. There are 3 (one not show) pipes coming in. The one with the ball valve, and two ran through the other. There is a main drain and two skimmers so I don't know which line is which. The pool was neglected for over a year and I just had it drained and a new liner put in. Following the directions someone gave me on here, I backwashed the filter, then rinsed, and ran it on filter. With the ball valve closed, everything seems to run fine. The other valve has two ports and different settings from two different 1/2 settings, a full, and two offs (I don't have a clue where it should be set). I have it set on 1/2 pointing to the top. When I open the ball valve, a lot of air enters in and the pump almost loses its prime if that makes sense. It will have a ton of air in the basket for 10 seconds and then air goes a way and full water for 20 seconds. This cycle repeats itself over and over with the ball valve open. Before I ran everything, I took the basket lid off and filled it with water like it said and got it as full as I could. It kept making gulping sounds and never would really get full. Could there really be this much left over air in that line? Could a clogged skimmer or main drain cause all of this air? Quite possibly the equipment was run with tons of algae and sludge in the pool. I have checked for leaks around the equipment but don't see any. I just hope I don't have an underground leak. Here is my equipment list.
4 returns (5 if you count the Polaris port)
2 skimmers
Hayward pro series sand filter with vari-flo xl valve.
Polaris Auto clear plus SWG
Intermatic T104P3 timer
Hayward 1.5hp self priming super pump
Polaris halcyon booster pump.
. Below is a picture of the suction side of my pump. There are 3 (one not show) pipes coming in. The one with the ball valve, and two ran through the other. There is a main drain and two skimmers so I don't know which line is which. The pool was neglected for over a year and I just had it drained and a new liner put in. Following the directions someone gave me on here, I backwashed the filter, then rinsed, and ran it on filter. With the ball valve closed, everything seems to run fine. The other valve has two ports and different settings from two different 1/2 settings, a full, and two offs (I don't have a clue where it should be set). I have it set on 1/2 pointing to the top. When I open the ball valve, a lot of air enters in and the pump almost loses its prime if that makes sense. It will have a ton of air in the basket for 10 seconds and then air goes a way and full water for 20 seconds. This cycle repeats itself over and over with the ball valve open. Before I ran everything, I took the basket lid off and filled it with water like it said and got it as full as I could. It kept making gulping sounds and never would really get full. Could there really be this much left over air in that line? Could a clogged skimmer or main drain cause all of this air? Quite possibly the equipment was run with tons of algae and sludge in the pool. I have checked for leaks around the equipment but don't see any. I just hope I don't have an underground leak. Here is my equipment list. 4 returns (5 if you count the Polaris port)
2 skimmers
Hayward pro series sand filter with vari-flo xl valve.
Polaris Auto clear plus SWG
Intermatic T104P3 timer
Hayward 1.5hp self priming super pump
Polaris halcyon booster pump.
