Cloudy water from booster pump

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Apr 28, 2012
17
Powder Springs, GA
My wife and i just bought a house that has a pool so were still learning. I have a 20k vinyl chlorine pool with a hayward sand filer that I started to open in march. It was a green swamp and I learned a lot while getting rid of the algae.

After a lot of money and hard work it has finally cleared up and looks wonderful, however... every time I turn on the booster pump where my Polaris hooks up cloudy water will come out of it very quickly and form a white substance on the surface of the water. It doesnt matter if the Polaris is hooked up or not, cloudy water will come from that jet.

I have tried sand revitalizer and no luck. Leslie pools recommended algae aid plus and no luck with it either. My only thought would be that the sand may need to be changed (seller didnt disclose how old the sand is). I am not sure what else to do.

My readings from leslies pool store is:
Total bromine 2
Ph 7.2
TA 110
Cya 60
Calcium hardness 130
Tds 550

Please help a new pool owner!
 
Welcome to TFP.

You say its a chlorine pool but you show bromine in the test results. If it's really a chlorine pool and your FC really is 2 it's way too low.
First let's get this out of the way! It's highly unlikely that you need to change the sand. I mean very highly unlikely.

You'll do yourself a favor if you get a good test kit.

Read all you can in pool school.
 
Welcome to TFP!

Problems specifically related to the booster pump, that don't happen otherwise, shouldn't have anything to do with the filter.

My first guess is that there is an air leak putting lots of tiny bubbles into the output of the booster pump. Another possibility is that the booster line is full of some kind of debris, but that seems much less likely.

Your FC level is too low. A bromine level of 2 in a chlorine pool means a chlorine level of 1. With CYA at 60 you should be maintaining an FC level of between 5 and 9, and never below 5.
 
Ok I'm back. Had to work with my little league pitchers. Them boys are gonna kill me! :-D

How do you chlorinate the pool?

It could be the algaecide or floc if you've used that as well. Chlorine will clear it up given the proper level and time.

Does the cloudy water come out the whole time the pump is on or just when it starts?

You really need to run an OCLT but without a good test kit you can't.

All this assumes you have a chlorine pool and not a bromine pool.
 
Sorry for the confusion, not sure why they gave me chlorine results as bromine but my pool is a chlorine pool. I keep four chlorine tabs in the chlorinator. The cloudy water only comes out of the booster pump when I turn it on. If its off the water looks great. When the booster does come on it also puts out some cloudiness through the other jets but not very much. Tomorrow I will take photos in the day to give a better picture. Sorry for any terms I may have mis-used - still learning here
 
Ok so a quick update and thanks for your responses thus far.

This morning when I went out and turn the filter on I took a closer look at the other jets and noticed that there is cloudy water coming from all the jets without the booster pump on but it is hard to notice unless you take a closer look. Also, it will only last a few minutes until the water clears up. When the booster pump comes on its very obvious and the cloudy water pours out of it very quick for a long time.

I will post pictures here shortly.
 
Given that it happens almost the whole time the pump is running, and you see stuff coming out of the other returns I'd say Jason is onto something. It's most likely a suction side leak that's exacerbated when the booster pump is on. When it's on, do you see air in the main pump basket?
 
Before
25tu8va.jpg


After
34rir82.jpg


Another after picture
1exxck.jpg


Booster pump
9gafc5.jpg

359gs91.jpg
 
You can see that the water is very faint when it is coming out of the booster pump but after a period of time it's long enough to cloud the water and develop a white substance on the surface.

Bama - Im still learning pool terms but I beleive the main pump basket is hooked up to the pool motor with the two screws to secure on top is?
 

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That is definitely being caused by small air bubbles coming from the plumbing, almost certainly a small air leak on the suction side of the pump. The bubble are getting coated with some kind of organic oil from the surface of the pool, which is why they are lasting so long. The organic oil isn't really an issue in and of it's self, except in how it interacts with the bubbles.
 
Yes the basket is the part on the front of the pump with the clear lid. If you're seeing bubbles in there you have a suction side leak. Running the booster pump will definitely make it worse.

A few common places to find a leak are 1) the pump basket lid o-ring, you should clean and lube it. 2) the pump drain plugs, you should remove clean and reseal them. If that doesn't fix it you should look at any suction side fittings and valves. Run water over them while the pump is running and see if the bubbles go away.
 
I would've never thought this was caused from tiny bubbles. Wow so much to learn from you here. I will look for a leak today and keep you all updated. I think I read somewhere shaving cream is good to find a leak - would you recommend this? Thanks for the help!
 
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