In case TLDR: What's causing my vacuum line to overflow when I attempt to prime/give 0 PSI/not enough suction for the Kreepy Krawly, and how do I fix it? Water level hasn't dropped abnormally so I doubt I have an underground leak of air. Pictures are attached





Just got back from 9 months overseas with the Army and while I was gone had roommate take care of basic "keep the pool from smelling" maintenance. Have a Pentair 520 filter and a pretty old pump that I've had since I bought the house 5 years ago, only a few issues.
Come back and pool, like I expected, isn't in great shape. No worries, I know what to do, or so I thought.
Initial step is shock it a couple times, and take manual vacuum to get out big debris, do that no issues. But skimmer is barely sucking water in, despite a PSI of like 30, and when I turn to vacuum mode, it completely dies and I get no suction. I decide to bite the bullet, go ahead and clean out filters, keep manually vacuum, and priming the pump over and over to try and increase suction, which gets temporary but not significant results. I even clean impeller and impeller isn't dirty.
Decide to call a pool company, and have them "fix" the pump and clean the filter, and it's going no issues and I think it's a miracle and I'm good to go. Except 1 hour later it is back to the same and they aren't responding to texts or calls, great. Another pool company says I have to do an air leak test, which is $450, and I probably need a new pool pump too, another large sum of money.
Today I spend all day working it, I put high pressure water through the vacuum line (when I turn Jandy handle to 3 o clock), through the skimmer line (handle at 9 o clock), and 50/50 line (12 o clock) through the vacuum itself, through the vacuum hole in pool, and through the skimmer itself, clean out the filter (I have suspicions the pool company cleaning wasn't great and went ahead and ordered new filters because they were dark green, at least they're light green now).
Where I'm at now, is skimmer and 50/50 mode prime well, and PSI is about 15-20, but the skimming still doesn't seem like it's fully sucking in water to get dirt/debris from surface. I have suction on the hole when I turn vacuum on, but when I prime on vacuum mode, the pump overflows, which seems to be indicates a blockage in the vacuum line from the pump to the filter? Tried hard to get a blockage of any kind out, but maybe it's something crazy blocking it.
To me the pump must be okay because skimming it works, and now I know the filter is (relatively) clean, and the skimmer line seems to not be an issue, so impeller must still be clean. So what's causing my vacuum line to overflow when I attempt to prime/give 0 PSI/not enough suction for the Kreepy Krawly, and how do I fix it?





Just got back from 9 months overseas with the Army and while I was gone had roommate take care of basic "keep the pool from smelling" maintenance. Have a Pentair 520 filter and a pretty old pump that I've had since I bought the house 5 years ago, only a few issues.
Come back and pool, like I expected, isn't in great shape. No worries, I know what to do, or so I thought.
Initial step is shock it a couple times, and take manual vacuum to get out big debris, do that no issues. But skimmer is barely sucking water in, despite a PSI of like 30, and when I turn to vacuum mode, it completely dies and I get no suction. I decide to bite the bullet, go ahead and clean out filters, keep manually vacuum, and priming the pump over and over to try and increase suction, which gets temporary but not significant results. I even clean impeller and impeller isn't dirty.
Decide to call a pool company, and have them "fix" the pump and clean the filter, and it's going no issues and I think it's a miracle and I'm good to go. Except 1 hour later it is back to the same and they aren't responding to texts or calls, great. Another pool company says I have to do an air leak test, which is $450, and I probably need a new pool pump too, another large sum of money.
Today I spend all day working it, I put high pressure water through the vacuum line (when I turn Jandy handle to 3 o clock), through the skimmer line (handle at 9 o clock), and 50/50 line (12 o clock) through the vacuum itself, through the vacuum hole in pool, and through the skimmer itself, clean out the filter (I have suspicions the pool company cleaning wasn't great and went ahead and ordered new filters because they were dark green, at least they're light green now).
Where I'm at now, is skimmer and 50/50 mode prime well, and PSI is about 15-20, but the skimming still doesn't seem like it's fully sucking in water to get dirt/debris from surface. I have suction on the hole when I turn vacuum on, but when I prime on vacuum mode, the pump overflows, which seems to be indicates a blockage in the vacuum line from the pump to the filter? Tried hard to get a blockage of any kind out, but maybe it's something crazy blocking it.
To me the pump must be okay because skimming it works, and now I know the filter is (relatively) clean, and the skimmer line seems to not be an issue, so impeller must still be clean. So what's causing my vacuum line to overflow when I attempt to prime/give 0 PSI/not enough suction for the Kreepy Krawly, and how do I fix it?