Hi, have a pumping problem and no idea how to fix it!
We moved into our lovely new house two months ago and all with the pool has been going swimmingly, which was good news because we are pool newbies and decided to take care of the pool ourselves, being that we're on a budget.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the pump was losing prime (I think) because on start-up a huge amount of air was violently erupting from the returns and the Polaris cleaner. However, this gradually ceased over a couple of minutes and pumping continued absolutely fine. (I notice that next-door's pool does the same thing although not quite so badly. So maybe it's normal?). I read through the forums, and decided to check the pump's O-ring as the port of first call in case there was an air-leak here. That's when we realised that the pump skimmer basket was quite full of debris, so we cleaned it all up, including the O-ring and the lid, re-lubed it and the priming problem definitely improved, although there is still some bubbling on start-up for 20 seconds or so. There is also a mysterious 'gurgling' coming from the filter unit several hours after switch-off with a very slight amount of water at the end of the filter unit effluent pipe (literally, a drop or so) which it did then and continues to do now.
Given the amount of debris in the pump basket, I figured that we should probably also backwash the DE filter seeing as we'd been here for two months and using the pool. I had been keeping a check on the filter pressure (probably the only thing I'd been doing right) and it had finally increased from 30psi to 38psi, so it was definitely due.
Backwashing went well, except that I didn't read the filter startup instructions properly and we switched the pump back on before we'd bled the air from the filter. I'd already plopped new DE into the pool skimmer basket and wondered why it wasn't going anywhere. We released the air, started the pump back up, and hey presto off it went merrily doing it's pumping job, the DE got sucked down the pipes and everything seemed to be running properly.
A few days later, I discovered that the pump isn't pulling water through the pool skimmer basket again, although there is some water coming out of the return jets so it must be pulling from the main drain at least (?). The polaris just bobs around because presumably there isn't enough water coming to it to push it around the pool properly. Yesterday, husband repeatedly bled the air from the filter again and eventually the pump starting pulling water again. This morning, on startup, it's stopped pulling water through the skimmer again. So I've switched it off. (Too many horror warnings on the pump instructions about catching fire, exploding, etc etc. for my liking)
SO, what is happening?? The lack of pumping action only started after backwashing the filter! Is there a pesky air bubble trapped somewhere in the system, and how do we get rid of it? Or, is air continually leaking into the filter unit, but where and how, and what do I do about it? And has the mysterious filter unit gurgling got anything to do with it?
Help, and thanks!!
Vicki
We moved into our lovely new house two months ago and all with the pool has been going swimmingly, which was good news because we are pool newbies and decided to take care of the pool ourselves, being that we're on a budget.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the pump was losing prime (I think) because on start-up a huge amount of air was violently erupting from the returns and the Polaris cleaner. However, this gradually ceased over a couple of minutes and pumping continued absolutely fine. (I notice that next-door's pool does the same thing although not quite so badly. So maybe it's normal?). I read through the forums, and decided to check the pump's O-ring as the port of first call in case there was an air-leak here. That's when we realised that the pump skimmer basket was quite full of debris, so we cleaned it all up, including the O-ring and the lid, re-lubed it and the priming problem definitely improved, although there is still some bubbling on start-up for 20 seconds or so. There is also a mysterious 'gurgling' coming from the filter unit several hours after switch-off with a very slight amount of water at the end of the filter unit effluent pipe (literally, a drop or so) which it did then and continues to do now.
Given the amount of debris in the pump basket, I figured that we should probably also backwash the DE filter seeing as we'd been here for two months and using the pool. I had been keeping a check on the filter pressure (probably the only thing I'd been doing right) and it had finally increased from 30psi to 38psi, so it was definitely due.
Backwashing went well, except that I didn't read the filter startup instructions properly and we switched the pump back on before we'd bled the air from the filter. I'd already plopped new DE into the pool skimmer basket and wondered why it wasn't going anywhere. We released the air, started the pump back up, and hey presto off it went merrily doing it's pumping job, the DE got sucked down the pipes and everything seemed to be running properly.
A few days later, I discovered that the pump isn't pulling water through the pool skimmer basket again, although there is some water coming out of the return jets so it must be pulling from the main drain at least (?). The polaris just bobs around because presumably there isn't enough water coming to it to push it around the pool properly. Yesterday, husband repeatedly bled the air from the filter again and eventually the pump starting pulling water again. This morning, on startup, it's stopped pulling water through the skimmer again. So I've switched it off. (Too many horror warnings on the pump instructions about catching fire, exploding, etc etc. for my liking)
SO, what is happening?? The lack of pumping action only started after backwashing the filter! Is there a pesky air bubble trapped somewhere in the system, and how do we get rid of it? Or, is air continually leaking into the filter unit, but where and how, and what do I do about it? And has the mysterious filter unit gurgling got anything to do with it?
Help, and thanks!!
Vicki
