Hayward Variable Speed….wont prime

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N

Needsdecaf

Well-known member
Jun 28, 2014
213
The Woodlands, TX
Hello!

In another thread, I posted about getting my water chemistry back correct after replacing my salt cell and SLAMING the pool. My salt is nearly 6000 ppm, so per the other thread I attempted a water swap. I drained about 25% of the pool (probably less) using a relief hose bib on the top of my water feature pump manifold. It got below the skimmers but not below the water returns.
I then refilled the pool (actually overfilled because I wasn’t watching and it’s draining out the overflow drain). Everything is sealed back up normal (cleaned the skimmer baskets and the pump strainer) but the pump won’t prime. It will pump a small amount of water out of the hose spigot on top of the return line, but not a lot. The filter basket won’t fill up and bubble and it’s clearly not doing much, and I’m getting a “no flow” alarm.

I put a hose in the filter basket to try to fill any gaps in the suction lines. Ran it about 5 minutes.

Still can’t get it to prime. The filter basket cover feels tight, I can’t hear any air being drawn in.

Any thoughts?
 
Main pump.

If you click on the link to my build, it shows my setup:

A Small Pool is a Good Pool.....The Woodlands, TX

Hi there, this will be a fun first post. Been lurking on the site for about 6 months at the recommendation of a friend, and it was very helpful in deciding some items like equipment, materials, etc. Below is the post of the majority of our pool build. It's done and filled, and the...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
I assume the suction Jandy valve controls main drain vs skimmer.
Select all skimmer with the valve.
Be sure the weir door is not stuck on the skimmer.

If necessary, put a hose into the skimmer suction below the skimmer basket and run full force into the pump.
 
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mknauss said:
I assume the suction Jandy valve controls main drain vs skimmer.
Select all skimmer with the valve.
Be sure the weir door is not stuck on the skimmer.

If necessary, put a hose into the skimmer suction below the skimmer basket and run full force into the pump.
Click to expand...
Dang, didn’t work.

Both skimmers are full and weirs are not stuck. Verified which direction the valve was skimmer vs floor drain by switching back and forth and observing activity in the skimmer vs none. Switched to skimmer only and put the hose directly down in the skimmer return pipe. Tried both skimmers. They are full because the water filled back up into the pool overflow. Neither skimmer pulled the water level down at all.

The filter basket is TRYING to prime. I can see the water in there gurgling around. All release valves are closed, can not hear any gurgling or air hissing. The air relief on the filter is closed. No leaks.

When I shut the pump off I can hear water draining back down.
 
Jimrahbe said:
N,

I'm more interested in where everything is set at this moment, not when the pool was built... :mrgreen:

That said... I would do what Marty suggests and look at your weir door in the skimmer first.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

It is set almost exactly how shown in the build. Jandy valve splitting the difference between floor and skimmer. The water feature valve has about 20% bypassing the water feature back to the wall return.
 
If you have two skimmers, then they must be plumbed together into one line back to the pad?
 
Newdude said:
Please post relevant things to your questions instead of making each and every person trying to help you go look for it. This one is free but next time it's on you. :)

View attachment 635241
Click to expand...
Ok, mea culpa. I tried three times to post the photo. Copied it and pasted. No go. Copied it to. Y photos and tried the link. No go. Tried to copy the link to the photo and use the hyperlink feature. No go.

Again, sorry. I did try. More than once. Just looking for help.
 
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I guess my question is, is it some kind of air bubble in the suction lines? In 11 years I have never once had the pump fail to prime. Of course I never dropped the water level this low either. And if I switch to drain only, shouldn’t that force the prime since that was always wet? Or is that just too much head to pull since it’s about 7-7.5’ below the pump?
 
The pump should overcome any amount of air in the lines as long as the pump suction to pool water level is less than 10' vertically.
Hard to know what is going on. Normally there will be a suction side leak.
I assume you have cleaned and lubricated the pump basket cover gasket.
 
Jimrahbe said:
N,

Do you know where your water feature pump gets its water?? Do you have do you have extra input ports in the pool or ????

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...
I'm 99.99% sure that they come from floor drains. I have four. I was told when the pool was built that they work in pairs so that you're not stuck to one accidentally as a child. So two drains feed the circ pump and two drains feed the water feature.

In the pic below, you can see that the water feature also has a bypass return that's controlled by the Jandy since it's a single speed pump. Builder noted that it was so that the pump isn't pushing against dead head if I want to slow the feed down.

img_4376_zps6d5e16d4-1-jpg.635241



I should say now that I am thinking about this again, that the first move I did to try to pump the pool down was to attach a hose to the bib on the outlet port of the water feature pump on the right. That worked, but it did not produce much flow out of the hose. Thinking (not thinking very clearly obviously) that it would be better to use the larger circulation pump, I then attached it to the bib on the outlet port of the circ pump, on the left. Of course, same result, most of the water is going right past the hose bib and through the filter.

I then realized I could switch the Jandy valve on the outlet of the water feature pump so that it pumped to the three feature lines. And then shut the feature lines using the red valves, so that all the pump flow went out the hose bib. That worked a lot better.

But I wonder if in trying to pump out of the main circ pump I airlocked it somehow? Dunno, doesn't make sense. I have cycled the air release on the top of the filter housing multiple times. Don't hear any air escaping or pushing in around the filter or the strainer basket. In looking at it, I could possibly open the hose bib on the top of my circ pump return before it heads into the filter. That would give the pump relief against anything that was possibly hydrolocked (not that it should be but just saying, it should give the pump the least resistance to prime against since it's got an outlet RIGHT THERE.

I will try getting some gasket lube today and lubing the seal on the circ pump filter basket. It's certainly possible that all these times I've removed and installed the strainer cover without it I've simply gotten lucky. I'll have to borrow another hose from a neighbor to try to do both skimmers at once as my second hose bib is too far away from the second skimmer. Or, maybe a pressure washer would work in one of the skimmers? I have a 40 degree nozzle so its not that much pressure, and can turn the pressure valve down on the machine as well. Would that help force any air out of the suction lines?

Also, thank you all again for your help and efforts. Typing on my ipad last night while tired and frustrated certainly wasn't ideal.
 
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