New Air bubbles, pool sat for two years

[Johnfishman21]

Newbie to the forum as well as to the pool lifestyle.
We moved into a house with an in-ground, 16x32 vinyl pool with a Hayward s-200 sand filter, Hayward vari-flow valve and Hayward self priming super pump. The pool was not used for appx 2 years. The mesh cover was on it the whole time. We have shocked it, vacuumed to waste, backwashed, changed the sand and put in a new 'spider' gasket under the valve handle. Just recently, while trying to vacuum some more, the vacuum plate off of the hose wasn't keeping a tight suction and would not stay on the skimmer basket. I then began noticing air bubbles coming out of the jets, which I don't know if they were before, and also the pressure is running now at 12 psi where before it was hovering between 14&16. The are little to no bubbles in the basket right off the pump (i dont remember the name for it). I have double checked all the bolts that I undid on the filter and valve and can't seem to find anything amiss. Any help- amuse I REALLY want to swim in this puppy!
John

 

[woodyp]

If your pool is mostly debris free (no chunky stuff) and you're just vacuuming dirt, I'd try and stick the vacuum hose directly into the skimmer hole and bypass using that vacuum plate. It's totally worthless on my AGP. That's most likely how you got a bit of air into the system, which should clear itself if not too bad. Pump strainer basket is the term you're looking for. Make sure that lid is tight and the oring is good and lubed. Unscrew that lid and fill it to the top to help out if there are big bubbles in there. Welcome to the forum!

 

[mas985]

When cleaning up a pool and vacuuming a lot of debris, the suction lines or pump impeller can be easily clogged. Remove the pump basket and check the impeller inlet for any debris. Also, stick a hose in the pipe that enters the pump basket, wrap it with a wet rag and try to flush out any debris that may of gotten stuck in the suction pipe.