Clog somewhere in pipes that I cannot loose

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emmittgator

New member
Mar 5, 2024
4
Jacksonville, FL
Hi all, new pool owner with my first post...

I will try to lay out as much as I know here, bear with me.

I bought my house one month ago and I have been working to get the pool up and ready for the season. There was a lot of debris and no chemicals present but otherwise in decent shape. Suction was never great but seems to have gotten worse since starting out, as I did my first 1-2 vacuums plugging directly into the bottom of the skimmer before I got a skimmer plate. I now have a robot vacuum.

I know there is likely a clog because the pump filter area (with the clear lid) does not fill with water but has air inside and my skimmers(2) can barely pull the debris down into the basket. The air is still present even when I switch the valve to main drain only or both main/skimmer.

I have tried a number of things, including
1. hose with towel inside pump, pushing back out to skimmers.
2. Hose with bladder pushing back out to skimmers.
3. Both of the above from the opposite direction
4. 1 and 2 with a shop-vac sucking on the skimmer side at the same time
5. I have used a plumbers snake a little but found it completely ineffective so I gave that up quickly.
6. having the pump run and flipping the Jandy valve between main/skimmer. ( I hear a loud knock when I do it quickly enough)
7. I have cleaned the filter several times since starting (cartridge)

What else can I try? Is it likely I have a clog in both main and skimmer lines? Is it possible its just an air leak? I have not noticed the pool losing water at all.

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
Welcome to TFP! :wave: Have you inspected the impeller area of the pump that is located in the bottom of the pump pot (wet end)? With power off, check to ensure the impeller moves freely. Or you might consider separating the wet end (pot) from the motor to inspect well.

Otherwise, post some pics of your equipment pad and pool from various angles so we can see everything. Pics may help us evaluate as well.
 
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What happens when you tried 1,2,3,4 above? Did you feel any water coming out the other end or feel any suction from the shop vac? If yes, then did you try lubing the o-ring under the pump lid with a silicone pool lube?
 
SecoSteve said:
What happens when you tried 1,2,3,4 above? Did you feel any water coming out the other end or feel any suction from the shop vac? If yes, then did you try lubing the o-ring under the pump lid with a silicon
Click to expand...
Yes I could feel suction and could feel water coming out of the other side.

So when pushing from the pump backwards, all the pressure went to one skimmer(the closer one) I tried closing that one off by plugging it up and a lesser pressure was felt at the further skimmer.

I definitely got suction when using the shop vac. Never saw anything get pushed out though.
 
Texas Splash said:
Welcome to TFP! :wave: Have you inspected the impeller area of the pump that is located in the bottom of the pump pot (wet end)? With power off, check to ensure the impeller moves freely. Or you might consider separating the wet end (pot) from the motor to inspect well.

Otherwise, post some pics of your equipment pad and pool from various angles so we can see everything. Pics may help us evaluate as well.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response. Here is a short video I took of my pool and setup. I had a little trouble getting pictures uploaded, I think this should work better anyway.


Also, I have checked the impeller, it is unimpeded and spins freely. I have not taken the manifold apart yet.
 
I noticed your pressure gauge seemed to be a bit high. Seems odd for low suction being the culprit. The gauge should be low with low suction. Can't help but wonder if there's a restriction. You said you cleaned the filter, but it seems odd. If you don't find a solution, perhaps try running the filter for a few minutes with the cartridge out to see if the pump pot stays full. I'm currently battling an issue with my pot water level dropping due to a dirty cartridge.
 
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Texas Splash said:
I noticed your pressure gauge seemed to be a bit high. Seems odd for low suction being the culprit. The gauge should be low with low suction. Can't help but wonder if there's a restriction. You said you cleaned the filter, but it seems odd. If you don't find a solution, perhaps try running the filter for a few minutes with the cartridge out to see if the pump pot stays full. I'm currently battling an issue with my pot water level dropping due to a dirty cartridge.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the note. I replaced the filter soon after getting the pool where I had the local pool store match it. However, I kept the old filter and when I switch them back out, everything flowed perfectly. So you were right. But I'm not sure why the new filter creates such a restriction. The only difference I can note is that the new filter only has 4 bands that go around instead of 6.

Thanks for your replies and helping me.
 
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