seeing a bubble from skimmer every 30 seconds

[Jobe1]

I have a new pool, noticed that the pressure hasn't been holding. The pool isn't finished yet, so all plumbing is capped and plumbing is pressurized. It drops about 5 pounds of pressure within a day or so. I noticed that the skimmer has two valves, the one closer to the pump lets out an small air bubble every 30 seconds or so. It's a tiny bubble, the pressure reading is 30 psi.

the plumber says this is normal, everyone else I talk to says otherwise. What's your take on this? is it an issue? does pressure stay still for a day?

i also notice that water seeps out of the skimmer to the pool wall, not sure if the air bubble has anything to do with that,

tomorrow they are planning on pouring the decking and I have thrown a fit about this, if you can give me some answer quickly that would be appreciated,

thank you

 

[mas985]

When my plumbing was pressure tested, I made sure it held for a couple of days. You really don't want to have any leaks at all or it will be a pain to deal with down the road.

Also, it should be pressure tested with water and not air. Air will change pressure with air temp but water should remain constant plus you can easily find the leaks.

 

[Jobe1]

Its being pressure tested with water, the plumber says that it held pressure for 4 days but I need to see that myself which I am not able to confirm

 

[Jobe1]

An update.

The skimmer is the kind that has two holes at the bottom. One going to the bottom drain and the other to the pump. The plumber has placed two caps with some plastic hose going from one to the other. Well yesterday the plumber came and he removed those caps, closed the two holes in the skimmer, the skimmer is empty, no water. Then he pressurized the system

at around 7pm the pressure reading was at 34psi and at 7am this morning the pressure went down to 30psi, i don't see signs of water anywhere and so my guess it might be something between the skimmer and the pump.

i did notice, and have noticed this for a while that the filter, which is a Hayward Swim Clear has moist dust at the top, around the black plastic for the release valuve

picture http://www.hayward-pool.com/images/pool ... lear_1.jpg

although it's not wet there but clearly the dust is darker so I wonder if the filter lets out gas/moisture very slowly. For a drop in pressure by 4PSI, how much water does that translate to? could the filter pressure gauge/release valve cap be the cause?

 

[mas985]

When you pressurize with water, you must release the air that is trapped in the filter. Otherwise the air will expand and contract with temperature and change the pressure. The PB might have done this which is why the top may be moist.

 

[waste]

Welcome to TFP!!

Mas985 knows this stuff better than I, so listen to him. What I'm appalled at is that they ran the MD through the skimmer (sorry - I simply HATE that set- up - what would you think if your doctor used leaches to cure your high blood pressure?)

I don't want to worry you, it will never be a huge issue, but each suction source ought have it's own line

 

[Jobe1]

mas985 I think you hit it on the nail, they never release any trapped air whenever they pressurized it and that explains the moist colored dust. As for water, yes, I was wondering why that would be and why they used some smaller diameter hose to go from one to the other, not sure how these work.

the one closer to the pool is supposed to be connected to the drain and the other one connected to the pump. How does water flow from the bottom drain? from the drain to the small tube, down to the second whole in the skimmer and then to the pump? If that's the case, the drain is something like a 2.5 in ch PVC pipe, goes down to what? a 1/4 inch pipe and back up to 2.5 inches? what is something gets sucked into the drain and gets lodged

is there a link or a diagram to explain how such a skimmer is supposed to work?

 

[tsunami]

I believe that the 2 caps in the skimmer with the hose attached between them is a tool that enables you to test both the lines from the skimmer. If they're both capped and not connected you'd only be testing the line that goes from the skimmer to the pump. So they connect the 2 temporarily with a hose to test both lines. That's what my pool builder used to test my lines but it couldn't hold the pressure for too long and the water would leak out at the hose.

If your PB put caps on both holes from the skimmer, how would the main drain line be pressurized? I see alot of PB's connect both holes together in the skimmer with PVC. IMO that's the best way to do it.

Here's a few links that might help.