Hi Team,
I'm struggling with a pump pressure / priming issue and have tried all the tips I've found so far.
Problem: Pump can't go from zero to full flow and runs dry after about 3 minutes of trying.
What I'm doing: After using the drain king with hose to pre-fill the system with water via the skimmer basket->pump line, I fill the pump filter basket with water, close all the lids, and turn on the pump. At first I get the normal big rush of water entering the pump basket as expected, but then it pulses every ~1 second back and forth from full flow to medium flow, and eventually peters out to nothing leaving a little water in the pump intake basket while the pump runs dry or on very little flow. To make it easy on the pump removed the floating diverting valve at the bottom of the pool skimmer basket so the pump can draw from the combined main drain or skimmer however it wants. I've tried it several times with the pressure release valve on the filter initially open until water emits then closing, as well as leaving it closed.
History:
Any ideas?
Thanks!
I'm struggling with a pump pressure / priming issue and have tried all the tips I've found so far.
Problem: Pump can't go from zero to full flow and runs dry after about 3 minutes of trying.
What I'm doing: After using the drain king with hose to pre-fill the system with water via the skimmer basket->pump line, I fill the pump filter basket with water, close all the lids, and turn on the pump. At first I get the normal big rush of water entering the pump basket as expected, but then it pulses every ~1 second back and forth from full flow to medium flow, and eventually peters out to nothing leaving a little water in the pump intake basket while the pump runs dry or on very little flow. To make it easy on the pump removed the floating diverting valve at the bottom of the pool skimmer basket so the pump can draw from the combined main drain or skimmer however it wants. I've tried it several times with the pressure release valve on the filter initially open until water emits then closing, as well as leaving it closed.
History:
- For ~7 years everything seemed fine. All new Pentair equipment in 2016. Pool is ~4 vertical feet below pump pad.
- This August, pump seized up.
- Replaced pump and all moving parts (sills, impeller, diffuser). The old diffuser collar was corroded and I presume causing friction. You can see the new pump is a different color than the rest of the housing parts.
- Everything worked after I installed the new pump, no trouble priming
- After a few hours, the skimmer basket got chock full of leaves (accumulated over 2 weeks of not pumping). I mistakenly cleaned it out while pump was running and I presume some leaves got in the pipes and some in the pump intake basket.
- After cleaning the skimmer and pump intake baskets and doing the drain-king pre fill again, everything worked fine for about 2 weeks. Initially there were a few leaves showing up in the pump intake basket and I cleaned them out. Full flow, no evidence of leaves or other debris and everything great for 2 weeks.
- Recently, the pump ran dry and was shut off by the drive. I've reset it and done all the re-priming tricks including checking for air leaks, lubing the intake basket lid etc, but it can't seem to keep the flow going--it starts strong, pulses high and medium, and then stops pulling water in. I've taken off and confirmed all the check valves before the pump are working.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
