What next??? So frustrated with these bubbles!

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Pepper,

Those three valves have nothing to do with your automation..

Just don't shut off all three at the same time.

Back up a little and take another pic.. Show us all of the inputs to your pump...

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Okay, when I turned the skimmmer valve off, no bubbles out of any of the return jets and no bubbles in the pump basket. I guess I better go get a new door ASAP! Fingers crossed that fixes it!
 
Pepper,

Just to be clear... You turned the skimmer off.. was the main drain and cleaner on? Or did you just turn off the skimmer?

If you can run with the Cleaner on and the Main drain on (Handles horizontal) and the Skimmer off (Handle down) then that is a pretty good indication that the air leak is in the Skimmer line.

The most likely spot is the O-rings in the Jandy valve..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
I had the skimmer off and the other two on. I went to the pool store and grabbed a new door and a valve gasket replacement. I’m assuming I just take those 8 screws off and then lube and replace the o ring then reassemble. Do I need to relieve the pressure in the filter or just turn the pump off?
 
Pepper,

Turn the pump off, but be prepared for water to pour out of the valve when you take the 8 screws out.. It really depends on the water level.. If the valve is above the water level, you will still get water, just not forever.. If the valve is below water level, water will pour out until the pool water is the same level as the valve.

My experience with weir doors is that if they stick up, the pump will suck all the water out of the skimmer line and then start sucking air.. If the weir door is stuck down, or removed, it will not make the pump suck air, but it will certainly cause the skimmers to be much less effective at skimming.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Okay, replaced the three o rings inside the valve (one big and two little ones) and I swear there’s even more bubbles now. Everything seems to be tightly screwed in. At a loss.
 
Pepper,

If this were my pool, I would swap the guts of the cleaner valve and the guts of the skimmer valve..

I am surprised that the water in the pump did not drain back... :scratch: Are you in the Spa mode???

Assuming it is not the valve or O-rings, then the line from the skimmer to the pump would be the next suspect.

Does your pool use flex lines? I suppose the skimmer line could be plugged..

With the Skimmer valve out, you can take a drain king and force water from the open skimmer valve back toward the skimmer and see if you can back flush anything out.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Let me ask you this, is the “cleaner” valve for the side suction thing that we used to hook our vacuum up to before we got a robot? If so, since we don’t use that anymore, should I just turn it to “off”? And no, wasn’t in spa mode. Pool mode with the pump off. When you say “replace the guts”, do you just mean the whole part I took off with the 8 screws?
 
Not sure what flex line is. Pool was built in 1994 and it looks just like regular old pvc.
 

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Also, let me ask you this...if my pump basket is full (save a big bubble at the top and tiny bubbles swirling around) and my pump is priming fine, is there anything else that some air in the line can cause problem with? I’m headed out of town tomorrow for a week and don’t know if this is something that I need to take a few hours tomorrow to deal with or if it can wait until I get home.
 
Pepper,

Yes, just swap the whole thing you just removed with the 8 screws..

If you no longer use the cleaner port you should just shut off the valve.. There should be a cap at the pool-end of the vacuum line anyway.. Do you know if the cap is still there???

I don't see a few bubbles as an emergency...

As another test, I would turn the skimmer on all by itself.. I'd want to check to make sure I had good suction at the pipe at the bottom of the skimmer.. (Under the basket)

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Pepper,

If you leave for a week, you could just turn the skimmer off and run off of the main drain and cleaner where you don't have an bubbles..

Yes, your pool will not be skimmed for a week, but that is an easy fix with a leaf rake.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
So, I’ve never turned on the main drain valve. Where does that pull water from? The bottom of the pool where my two drain things are?
Yes, there is a cap on the side where we used to plug the vacuum in.
The bottom of the skimmer basket has really good suction.
 
Is there any reason that the previous owner had the main drain off? Is there a good reason to turn it on? Aside form my issue with the air leak in the Skimmer line?
 
Pepper,

I am a little confused now.. If your cleaner line is capped and your main drain is off... then turning off the skimmer means your pump has no where to suck water from????

The pump should have run out of water almost instantly.. :scratch:

As a test, Turn on the main drain, and then turn off the Cleaner and Skimmer and tell us what you see...

There should not be bubbles coming out of your returns unless you have a SWCG (Saltwater cell).

Having a few bubbles under the pump lid of a VS pump running at a low RPM (1200 to 1600) or so is almost normal.. But the bubbles should not get so big that the water is not above the pump basket.

Thanks

Jim R.
 
Okay, I turned off the cleaner and skimmer and turned on the main drain line. At first, the pump basket got super cloudy and I went out and could see hazy/cloudy water rushing out of the return lines. Maybe bc it haven’t been turned on in a decade? I could see something in the bottom of the pump basket so I opened the lid and it had a bunch of Crud in it (small rocks, pieces of junk, etc). I cleaned that out and then turned everything back on. No bubbles out of any of the return jets and the hazy water has seemed to clear up. Pump is running at 1500 rpm and I can still see some bubbles in the pump basket but the water level is definitely nearly to the top.
 
I didn’t see it in your signature, but do you happen to have an ozone generator in your system? I had very similar situation, and turning off the ozone generator solved all my excess bubbles out of my return jets.
 

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