Air in Pump Basket - help!

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Ameliamcr

Member
Aug 22, 2023
14
Baytown, Texas
Pool Size
30000
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Hello! A couple weeks ago we noticed air in the pump basket. Pentair Intelliflo VS. When we first installed it in October, it worked great with no issues. Around the time we saw air in the pump basket, we got the error on the app that was "pressure limit warning"

We thought at first we had an organic blockage in the skimmer lines. So we did a drain king to try and remedy the situation. We turned valves all which ways and the suction/air in pump stayed the same. Then we tried suction back through the line with a shop vac. No luck.

Today we tried shaving cream on the above ground suction lines, but we didn't see evidence of a leak.

Can anyone offer some advice, directions, tips, tricks, or thoughts on next steps? Thanks!
 

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Ameliamcr said:
Hello! A couple weeks ago we noticed air in the pump basket. Pentair Intelliflo VS. When we first installed it in October, it worked great with no issues. Around the time we saw air in the pump basket, we got the error on the app that was "pressure limit warning"

We thought at first we had an organic blockage in the skimmer lines. So we did a drain king to try and remedy the situation. We turned valves all which ways and the suction/air in pump stayed the same. Then we tried suction back through the line with a shop vac. No luck.

Today we tried shaving cream on the above ground suction lines, but we didn't see evidence of a leak.

Can anyone offer some advice, directions, tips, tricks, or thoughts on next steps? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Are you seeing bubbles from the return lines? What RPM shows the air? Is the filter dirty?
A VSP at lower RPM will almost always look like that after being in use a while when running lower speeds. Its not an issue.
 
1poolman1 said:
Are you seeing bubbles from the return lines? What RPM shows the air? Is the filter dirty?
A VSP at lower RPM will almost always look like that after being in use a while when running lower speeds. Its not an issue.
Click to expand...
Yes, we do see bubbles from 1 of the return lines - even on the old pump we saw them.

We see the air even at max - but it's noticeably less. Even at 100% rpm, we are only getting a flow of 40-50 gpm. That's what first alerted us to look, was pump speed went up to still only pull 30gpm. When we first installed it would run at 10% to get 30gpm and at this moment, it's running at 46% to get 30gpm

We know that sand was replaced last year and we are consistent to backwash monthly. We did notice the pressure gauge on the filter is questionable...
 
Ameliamcr said:
Yes, we do see bubbles from 1 of the return lines - even on the old pump we saw them.

We see the air even at max - but it's noticeably less. Even at 100% rpm, we are only getting a flow of 40-50 gpm. That's what first alerted us to look, was pump speed went up to still only pull 30gpm. When we first installed it would run at 10% to get 30gpm and at this moment, it's running at 46% to get 30gpm

We know that sand was replaced last year and we are consistent to backwash monthly. We did notice the pressure gauge on the filter is questionable...
Click to expand...
Air can be pulled into a pump from anywhere in front of the pump; valve O rings, unions loose or with bad O ring, etc.
Also from the lid O ring (usually needs to be lubed to solve the issue).
An often missed source can be one of the pump's drain plugs.
Then, it could be a damaged suction line, a bad suction-cleaner hose, a bad shaft seal.
 
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Thanks for the input! We ended up calling out a repair company as we felt over our heads.

The issue is resolved. It seemed that some leaves and gunk had gotten past the pump basket, not surprising as so much junk/gunk has been covering our backyard. So we stuck a shop vac in the impeller hole and sucked it out and that was it!
 
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