As I suspected, the PB did not show/call today.
Test kit didn’t arrive either. It’s been “in transit” for days, within my state. I’m about ready to drive to the distribution center and just pick it up.
I went back to the pool supply place today and showed the employee there (not the same guy as I talked to before) my filter photos. He suggested that I just remove the sand (very carefully)and get new sand bc it’s cheap. I’d have to work so hard to get the existing sand clean-it wouldn’t be worth the time and effort. He also suggested it would be a good chance to examine the laterals and replace if necessary, before I blasted a bunch of sand into the pool.
He also told me I could try turning the pump on in “recirculate” to test it and if it works then I would be able to at least get the water moving.
I decided to give it a try. I turned the multi port on the filter clockwise to “recirculate” after I watched a few videos on how to prime it the pump, and turned it on. Here’s a picture of the pipe going into the multi port
You can see how the water is very bubbly/foamy and is not making it all the way to the top. I filled the basket all the way to the top and very quickly sealed it tight while my son flipped it on so I know it was full when it started.
I tried this a few more times, but each time I tried closing off one of the supplies. I have no idea which valve controls what. I mean, I know one valve is on the return side, And the other two are on the supply side but of the two...I can only guess that the one with only one pipe going into the ground is the main drain and the one with two pipes go to the skimmers. I don’t even know if it makes a difference, but I figured in an effort to be scientific I’d try one at a time. I did not close the return side.
I was unable to ever get the bubbles in the pipe to go away, but after I started it up the 2nd time, when I had just one of the skimmers going (on the left) plus the main drain I noticed large bubbles coming from one of the returns. Huge bubbles. They go for a few seconds then stop, then burst out again.
When I first turned the pump on, I noticed a very small leak from where the pipe comes out of the pump on its way to the multi port. It didn’t continue...it was just once at start up. I wiped it away and it didn’t come back. It wasn’t a splash from the fill up.
When I turn the pump off, I can hear a very faint hissing sound (like air leaking from a tire) in the vicinity of the intake pipe right at the joint before it enters the pump, or from the cover. They are close together. It changes when I press on the cover, And stops when I remove it. I wiped off the gasket and the underside of the lid in case there was any grit and pressed on the gasket to see if it was all dried out (it wasn’t). I ran it one more time and really tightened it but the result was the same. Bubbles out of just one return. Same hissing sound. Bubbles in the view pipe, and, I might add, no movement in the skimmers (even when the valves are all open.)
PB did a pressure test, when the liner was installed btw, and said “everything was fine.” FWIW.
It is entirely possible I am not doing this right.