low pressure and lots of air

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rlefig

rlefig

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LifeTime Supporter
Apr 29, 2013
270
Reading, MA
Hi just opened up pool and have low pressure with lots of air in return jets. The pump skimmer basket gets about 3/4 full. I purchased a new o ring for the skimmer basket and it did not change. I will be cleaning out my filters in my sta-rite 300 filter as the pool was dirty as it always is with elephant cover. I clean the filters before I shut down the pool down for the winter.

Any other thoughts or ideas?

Thanks
 
Rancho Cost-a-Lotta said:
Make sure your water level is halfway up the skimmer mouth. It's possible that your skimmer may be sucking an air. Make sure the valves are in the proper position.
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The water was definitely half way up and there are no valves as it is a cartridge filter. I think it might be o ring or teflon tape might be needed on filter drain or pump drain
 
Makes sense. Just double check your winterizing plugs and all of the drain plugs in any of your components including heater and pump. Servicing the filter would help to rule that out as a culprit. Best of luck!
 
rlefig said:
Hi just opened up pool and have low pressure with lots of air in return jets.
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Where you vacuuming previous to this happening?

Definitely an air leak but it might be due to a clog in either the suction line and/or in the impeller.
 
Ok but if the filter pressure is less than normal, then it still indicates either a clogged suction line and/or impeller.

Or buy low pressure, did you actually mean, low flow rate? These are not the same thing. If the filter pressure is much higher than normal, and the flow is reduced then the filter is likely clogged with debris and needs to be cleaned.

What is the filter pressure now and after it has been cleaned?
 
The gauge is only reading around 2 I normally run at 7 or so. The water does not fill pump skimmer basket and the water coming out of the jets has air bubbles and is lower pressure than usual. The usual fix for this has been the o-ring at the pump basket. Sometimes I will clean it and apply silicone greae and it resolves. I have never done anything to the large o-ring in sta-rite system 3
 
rlefig said:
The gauge is only reading around 2 I normally run at 7 or so. The water does not fill pump skimmer basket and the water coming out of the jets has air bubbles and is lower pressure than usual.
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That would indicate a suction side clog and/or impeller clog. Things to try:

Remove pump basket and see if there is any debris in the impeller inlet

Backflush from the pump toward the skimmer using a garden hose and a rag to seal into the pump inlet pipe. If thre is more than one line coming into the pump, then you might isolate each line individually.

If neither of those things work, then you might need to disassemble the pump to inspect the impeller directly.
 

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7 PSI is very low even for a 3/4 HP pump. Can you post some pictures of the equipment pad? Is that a 2 speed pump running on low speed?
 
Hi there is no switch on back of pump

Here are pics of my setuppump1.jpgpump2.jpgpump3.jpgpump4.jpg

I also have videos of air bubbles coming out of jet and the pump basket not totally full of water although unsure how to upload as they are bigger files
 
That is a single speed uprated 3/4 HP (0.9525 THP) pump. It looks like it might be a Sta-Rite Dynamo above ground pool pump. Fortunately, that line is self-priming even though it is an above ground pool pump. But even with this pump, filter pressure should be higher than 7 PSI.

Have you checked out the impeller and/or backflushed the suction line?

How far is it from the equipment to the pool?

Do you know what kind of line is underground (e.g. solid or flex or poly)?

Note too that union can be a source of air leaking. Worth disassembling and lubing.
 
mas985 said:
That is a single speed uprated 3/4 HP (0.9525 THP) pump. It looks like it might be a Sta-Rite Dynamo above ground pool pump. Fortunately, that line is self-priming even though it is an above ground pool pump. But even with this pump, filter pressure should be higher than 7 PSI.
Click to expand...

Thats kind of what it has always been for almost 10 years now 7-10 on the gauge, but the flow from the jets is strong nd I only run the pump for 5 hours or so daily and the pool stays clean
mas985 said:
Have you checked out the impeller and/or backflushed the suction line?
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I have not and I am unsure of how to. What I do notice is subsequent pump cycles after pump has been off increases the pressure and there is less air in basket.
mas985 said:
How far is it from the equipment to the pool?
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The pump and filter is 12 feet from pool skimmer and 22 feet to closest jet
mas985 said:
Do you know what kind of line is underground (e.g. solid or flex or poly)?
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No idea only that it is old from 1971 or so and I have not done any work on the underground lines. The pool was a black pit of misery when we bought the house and probably not opened for many years but was full of water so I did not think there could be any leaking. My parents had a very similar pool and when all of us kids moved out they did not open for many years once they had grand kids we opened the pool back. Surprisingly the pool is very similar to mine an old 70's kidney shaped gunite.
mas985 said:
Note too that union can be a source of air leaking. Worth disassembling and lubing.
Click to expand...
That could be.
 
The gauge could be bad and that is why you are reading lower than normal pressure. Let's focus on the air leak.

I think I posted this before:

Remove pump basket and see if there is any debris in the impeller inlet

Backflush from the pump toward the skimmer using a garden hose and a rag to seal into the pump inlet pipe.
 
mas985 said:
The gauge could be bad and that is why you are reading lower than normal pressure. Let's focus on the air leak.

I think I posted this before:

Remove pump basket and see if there is any debris in the impeller inlet

Backflush from the pump toward the skimmer using a garden hose and a rag to seal into the pump inlet pipe.
Click to expand...
i did remove the pump basket and sprayed the hose in there and also felt by hand in the impeller and did not feel and debris or see any.

I will do the backflush procedure

thanks @mas985
 

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