3 year old pool:
A couple months ago my pump started having trouble staying primed and maintaining pressure, ton of air in basket.
I replaced every o-ring on the lids and and valves, ran without filters, plugged pump-drain plugs, but no change. Tried soapy water on all the joints and could really find anything.
I used to be able to run my pump at 2500rpm but now it won’t maintain prime/pressure unless it’s at least 2700-3000rpm.
Pump loses prime the quickest when sucking from the cleaner port (maybe because of the distance/pressure?) but the issue persists even for the main drain and skimmer. Some days the pump can run all day without going dry and others, the basket empties fast. (I assume dirt underground sucks into the leak and holds some days)
That makes me believe the suction leak is after the suction valves and before the pump.
I have an in-ground leafvac canister before the pump. I have a feeling the suction leak is there, before the pump (2 pvc elbows underground), the one place I can’t check.
Does this seem likely? How much am I looking at in terms of repair?
Would be nice if I could reach down into the canister and patch the 3 inch pipe from the inside.
A couple months ago my pump started having trouble staying primed and maintaining pressure, ton of air in basket.
I replaced every o-ring on the lids and and valves, ran without filters, plugged pump-drain plugs, but no change. Tried soapy water on all the joints and could really find anything.
I used to be able to run my pump at 2500rpm but now it won’t maintain prime/pressure unless it’s at least 2700-3000rpm.
Pump loses prime the quickest when sucking from the cleaner port (maybe because of the distance/pressure?) but the issue persists even for the main drain and skimmer. Some days the pump can run all day without going dry and others, the basket empties fast. (I assume dirt underground sucks into the leak and holds some days)
That makes me believe the suction leak is after the suction valves and before the pump.
I have an in-ground leafvac canister before the pump. I have a feeling the suction leak is there, before the pump (2 pvc elbows underground), the one place I can’t check.
Does this seem likely? How much am I looking at in terms of repair?
Would be nice if I could reach down into the canister and patch the 3 inch pipe from the inside.
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Just to confirm, did you also check the O-rings inside each nut connection (i.e. at the pump intake, canister intake, etc)? It sure would be nice if you had a way to bypass that canister as a test.