Pump w/ Air and Pressure "Bouncing"

[pinlawr]

Hello!

We've had our pool for a little over a year (built new) and we've just started to have an issue over the weekend. When running our pump on anything above medium (75%) it begins to "pulse" and causes the pressure gauge to bounce all over the place. There is quite a bit of air in the pump basket, which I can normally get rid of by running the pump on high and opening the air relief on on the filter. But with it behaving as it is, I can't run it on high, and opening the pressure relief only lets water out.

Video Link of issue.

Some notes:

• It does this no matter what position the valves are in (all pool, all spa, sheer on/off, all valves partially open [mix of pool/spa]).
• The returns output pressure/volume is much lower than typical
• The filters were cleaned at the end of June, and again at the end of July.
• I haven't taken anything apart yet.
• Skimmer baskets are clean
• We get very little debris in the pool (no trees, etc.), usually a few small leaves per week.

Thanks for any help or thoughts!

(edit to fix video link)

 

[ajw22]

You have a suction side air leak you need to find.

Suction Side Air Leaks

If you see air bubbles coming out of the return lines in your pool, you likely have a leak. Some signs that a suction side plumbing leak has occurred include: Read more

www.troublefreepool.com

There are various techniques to try and find it. You can wrap the suction side joints in Saran Wrap which will seal air leaks, or you can try the hose method shown below...

 

[pinlawr]

Thanks for the pointers. Finally got around to dealing with this a couple of days ago. Tore the whole system apart (it was time to inspect the salt cell anyway). Didn't find anything leaking using the tips from above. But, when I opened my filter the carts were absolutely packed brown. I didn't even think to check them since they were just "professionally" cleaned ~17 days ago. Pulled them out, cleaned them myself and instantly the system went back to running smoothly and perfectly at all speeds. Couple of days later and no signs of air getting into the system.

Thanks again!