air in pump

[LL70]

Hello, I am a pool newbie. My husband and I just bought a house and we have a 20 x 40 in ground pool with liner. I was cleaning out the skimmer baskets and I decided to clean out the pump basket. The pump was not running, it's on a timer. When I opened the cover I heard the air sound, and heard water moving around. I thought maybe I should not do this now, wait til someone can show me what to do so I closed it. It was on my mind that maybe I needed to do something else like add water to the basket in the pump before closing but I may be wrong or I may have missed a few steps. We called someone to see if there was anything else I needed to do they said noise is normal and I don't have to do anything else. Next day pool is running my husband went to check on it and pump is making high pitch noise and pressure is at 15. (Sorry if I am using the wrong terms.) So he shut off power to the pool. What do I do? Should I pour water into basket and turn the filter on to let the air out or is that a NO NO? Did I damage the pump? Thanks for reading.

 

[Sminor]

Welcome! Most likely you didn't get a good seal on the pump basket cover when you put it back on causing it to suck some air. What is your normal pressure? It's fine to open the pump basket with the pump off and fill it up with a hose - you won't get it all the way full but as long as some water is in their it should prime. Make sure the basket cover is sealed tightly and evenly then fire the pump back up. You'll probably need to bleed some air from your filter then pressure should be back to normal. I doubt if you damaged the pump.

You should put all the details of your pool in your signature to help us understand your setup.

 

[LL70]

Thank you. My husband did as you said and it seems to be good now. I have never seen the normal pressure (guess I should have waited to compare) because I have not been at the house when the pump was running. I will see what it reads next time. We hope to move this weekend. As I learn more info about our pool I will add more details to my signature. Thank you again.