I have a 20x40-ft inground Master pool probably built in the early 1970s. I am having trouble with getting pool pump to hold prime at all. I am using a pentair WhisperFlo high performance pump with a century one horsepower pump motor non Autopriming. This has been working for at least a year with very little issues.
I recently vacuumed the pool manually due to being gone for a month. Pump was operating fine when I shut it off. The next day I turned it on let the air out of the filter, and notice that the strainer basket was not filling completely with water was filling about halfway. I shut down pump relieved any remaining pressure in the filter and took the strainer basket cap off emptied the strainer basket then hooked up a drain bladder system from the skimmer to the strainer basket. Ran it for about 5 minutes didn't see any debris come out water was flowing relatively freely but the basket was still only filling halfway.
Not sure why this is the case that's why I'm on this forum now. I also use the bladder system on the drain line as well same result no debris coming out but water flowing. I then disassembled the pump from the motor and checked for impeller movement. Impeller seem to move fine didn't spin freely but didn't spin slow. Did not lock up in any position I cleaned out the openings around me impeller and there wasn't much debris that came out.
I took a quick look at the diffuser and the impeller and I noticed no real damage that I could see. Note I did not remove the diffuser from the impeller so I may have missed something. I also took apart the filter drained all water out of it and debris, filled filter back up to where intake pipe is and also made sure that water had run all the way back into the basket and the basket was full of water. I put back together the filter buttoned it down tighten strainer lid rechecked and tightened bolts for pump& motor. Then I ran one more flow test with the drain bladder on both the skimmer and drain lines.
At this point it still seemed to me that the skimmer basket would not fill up with water no matter what. However as soon as I would turn the pump motor on, it would suck all the water out of the basket and never reach over half full on the basket. Once I turned off the pump the basket would fill with water. Any information you can give me as to what to look at next to try and fix this thing. One additional note. would be greatly appreciated as I am stumped at this point. One additional note. I noticed at the bottom of the skimmer basket that the o-ring for the skimmer basket is gone. Could this be causing enough of an air leakto keep pump from priming?
I recently vacuumed the pool manually due to being gone for a month. Pump was operating fine when I shut it off. The next day I turned it on let the air out of the filter, and notice that the strainer basket was not filling completely with water was filling about halfway. I shut down pump relieved any remaining pressure in the filter and took the strainer basket cap off emptied the strainer basket then hooked up a drain bladder system from the skimmer to the strainer basket. Ran it for about 5 minutes didn't see any debris come out water was flowing relatively freely but the basket was still only filling halfway.
Not sure why this is the case that's why I'm on this forum now. I also use the bladder system on the drain line as well same result no debris coming out but water flowing. I then disassembled the pump from the motor and checked for impeller movement. Impeller seem to move fine didn't spin freely but didn't spin slow. Did not lock up in any position I cleaned out the openings around me impeller and there wasn't much debris that came out.
I took a quick look at the diffuser and the impeller and I noticed no real damage that I could see. Note I did not remove the diffuser from the impeller so I may have missed something. I also took apart the filter drained all water out of it and debris, filled filter back up to where intake pipe is and also made sure that water had run all the way back into the basket and the basket was full of water. I put back together the filter buttoned it down tighten strainer lid rechecked and tightened bolts for pump& motor. Then I ran one more flow test with the drain bladder on both the skimmer and drain lines.
At this point it still seemed to me that the skimmer basket would not fill up with water no matter what. However as soon as I would turn the pump motor on, it would suck all the water out of the basket and never reach over half full on the basket. Once I turned off the pump the basket would fill with water. Any information you can give me as to what to look at next to try and fix this thing. One additional note. would be greatly appreciated as I am stumped at this point. One additional note. I noticed at the bottom of the skimmer basket that the o-ring for the skimmer basket is gone. Could this be causing enough of an air leakto keep pump from priming?
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