Hi All,
I have always had the dreaded air bubble pancake on my pump, but it's been worse lately to the point of my pump basket is only about 3/4 full. I think my union on the suction side it busted and needs to be replaced, I'm just not 100% sure how or where on the plumbing to do so. The union itself isn't completely smooth on the connection surface and the small ridge seems to have hairline fractures - not sure if it goes all the way through the pipe or not. Maybe that rough edge is what was causing the original leaking?
Here's a wider picture. I can here air noise from the union area with the arrow. When I had the pump off while I was cleaning the cartridges for the filter, I noticed that the concrete below the union was wet - ie, water had leaked back out thru that area. I did try to relube (magic lube) and tighten the union, but that's when the air bubbles got worse.
Maybe ya'll have some less destructive ideas to try first (now that I've written this, perhaps I try smoothing that rough/gouged area - with what - sandpaper or a file?). I think if I had to go full replacement, I would have to cut the pipe at the purple line on the right, get a new coupler (which is what I think the star'ed object is), add a new short section of pipe and connect it to a new union.
And in case you couldn't tell, I don't have much experience with plumbing/piping at all - I did put an end cap on a broken sprinkler line once. So maybe it would be good to just get a local pool person to come out?
Thanks in advance for any ideas / help.
I have always had the dreaded air bubble pancake on my pump, but it's been worse lately to the point of my pump basket is only about 3/4 full. I think my union on the suction side it busted and needs to be replaced, I'm just not 100% sure how or where on the plumbing to do so. The union itself isn't completely smooth on the connection surface and the small ridge seems to have hairline fractures - not sure if it goes all the way through the pipe or not. Maybe that rough edge is what was causing the original leaking?
Here's a wider picture. I can here air noise from the union area with the arrow. When I had the pump off while I was cleaning the cartridges for the filter, I noticed that the concrete below the union was wet - ie, water had leaked back out thru that area. I did try to relube (magic lube) and tighten the union, but that's when the air bubbles got worse.
Maybe ya'll have some less destructive ideas to try first (now that I've written this, perhaps I try smoothing that rough/gouged area - with what - sandpaper or a file?). I think if I had to go full replacement, I would have to cut the pipe at the purple line on the right, get a new coupler (which is what I think the star'ed object is), add a new short section of pipe and connect it to a new union.
And in case you couldn't tell, I don't have much experience with plumbing/piping at all - I did put an end cap on a broken sprinkler line once. So maybe it would be good to just get a local pool person to come out?
Thanks in advance for any ideas / help.
