Air bubble issue

[joelcrob]

I am a new pool owner so I am the first to admit that my knowledge is lacking. However, my pool operated great my first few weeks in my new home. About a week ago, I began to notice air bubbles in the return jet and the filter basket. A little tinkering on my part revealed a few things: when I switch the Jandy Neverlube valve to skimmer, there are no air bubbles. Sometimes when I switch to main drain there are bubbles, but sometimes there are not. Consequently, the combined position operates the same way. Often I can switch the valve to MD or combined and there are no bubbles for a few minutes, but after a bit they begin to appear. Sometimes the bubbles appear as soon as I switch away from skimmer immediately. I called a repair guy, and he seems to think I have a leak somewhere in the MD line underground. However, even he admitted that the fact that I was not loosing water was odd for this diagnosis. Also, the water that comes in the basket when on MD is not dirty. So my question is this: is it possible that the Jandy valve is the culprit—one time I got the bubbles to go away by pouring water over the valve, but have since not been able to duplicate this. Wouldn't water coming in from an underground leak be dirty? Also the main drain pressure is generally about 3 psi lower than my skimmer line pressure. Any help would be appreciated as I am reluctant to accept an underground problem just yet. I guess in most simple terms, has anyone ever heard of a Jandy valve leaking air in only certain positions?

 

[J20832]

My first guess is that maybe you don't have a great connection between the valve and the pipe to your main drain. I would try pouring water over this area specifically to see if that is the issue and go from there. It is possible that it was fine in the beginning and then some vibration has made a weak spot start to leak air.

As far as dirty water, if there truly is a leak underground, it is very small and is sucking miniscule amounts of dirt diluted in a lot water. Basically, if it is sucking dirt, it would not necessarily be a noticeable amount.

Whenever you have a suction side leak, it is almost always a good idea to make sure the pump basket lid is well lubricated and sealing well. Similarly, check the drain plug.

 

[joelcrob]

Thanks for the response. I will check that connection in the morning. If it turns out to be an underground problem, I have debated just plugging up the drain for now and going skimmer only for the rest of the summer. Not really ready to shell out big money right after buying the house.

 

[joelcrob]

Turns out that it is an underground issue after all. I am just going to cap off the main drain and run skimmer only for now; I am not going to deal with the cost of repair at this point. I think my Polaris will provide enough water movement down there anyway. The pool guy even said that many pools such as mine are built these days without a main drain anyway.