air leak repair

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S

sdtfp

Gold Supporter
Jun 4, 2020
175
NYC
Pool Size
17500
Surface
Plaster
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine
Looks like I have an air leak in my system even though on my opening thread, opening 2025 I mentioned things went smoothly. I just checked and while everything looks good (except the psi) when the pump is running, once I stop the pump for a minute and then restart it, you can see air bubbles in the returns. So obviously air is getting into the system, when the pump is off.

I put my ear to the various possible leak locations when the pump is off and couldn't hear anything. I also put water on them and didn't see bubbles. Although maybe that's just for air leaking out like on a tire. This issue is air leaking in.

I have a bunch of possible leaks and want to get some advice on how to diagnose and fix the problem. I am going to try to attack the issue one by one from easiest to hardest.

1. I have a rubber plug on the waste output which is a threaded pipe. This is how it was when I inherited the system and I have been too naïve to fix it. I guess I have been relying to much on if its not broken then don't fix it. I don't know the sizing of this. Anyone can tell from the picture. My system is 1.5" pvc. This has threads in it.
2. Close of chlorinator holes. I asked previously here if anyone knew how to find plugs for these lines. No one has replied, so I will keep searching.
3. Lubing pump lid gasket.
4. I did lube up the drain plugs on the pump, but I will try reseating them.
5. replacing the pressure gauge and the assembly that connects it to the filter shell.
6. Resealing separation tank lid
7. reseating the plumbing line connections to the pump
8. reseating the water viewer on the multiport
9. Looking into the pipe that goes from multi port to separation tank. That has always had a small drip. It makes sense that would be the issue, except its worked fine like that in past years.
10. multiport maintenance.

I guess is this where I need a lot of help. What would you guys recommend. Should I call someone to do maintenance on it? I feel like if i tried that they would have no clue what to do or mess it up. Or should I buy a gasket and try to replace it myself? I saw a video on it and it looked hard. Or should I buy a new multi port and have someone install it or try installing myself? I need a plan of attack that doesn't leave me without a pump for a few days, so cost may have to take a back seat.
 

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Last edited:
Does your pump prime and run with a full basket?
Are there any visible leaks?
Does you pool maintain water Level?

If the answers to Yes, No, and Yes. Then you are likely just fine.
When I move my multiport, with pump off for example, I get air too. I'm not going to rebuilt it until it fails.
 
duraleigh said:
Do you see air bubbles flowing continuously through the pump basket when the pump is running?

Don't buy ANYTHING yet!























































/
Click to expand...
Hard to tell if what I am looking at is air bubbles or just water being brought into the pump too fast? But yes it does look like large air bubbles in the pump basket, but its always looked that way, even when I've had no issues. So I may not know what I'm seeing but at least I know what it looks like when it is working.

Regarding not buying anything..... I did find this thread about closing off the chlorinator line.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pools/comments/nqvuw7/how_to_removeclose_old_offline_chlorinator
Used the link in there to buy some 1/4" NPT nylon caps. Figure for 10 bux, its worth a try. Interestingly, the OP there mentioned having DE leak with this same setup. I am not sure if he is right, because that would mean I have always had DE leaks and I don't think that is true. I definitely clean out a lot of DE from the filter cells at the end of the season.
 
duraleigh said:
Do you see air bubbles flowing continuously through the pump basket when the pump is running?

Don't buy ANYTHING yet!























































/
Click to expand...
Tried to upload a video.
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PoolStored said:
Does your pump prime and run with a full basket?
Are there any visible leaks?
Does you pool maintain water Level?

If the answers to Yes, No, and Yes. Then you are likely just fine.
When I move my multiport, with pump off for example, I get air too. I'm not going to rebuilt it until it fails.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's my answers.

I read the link you mentioned in your other post and wanted to make sure I understood. Air in the system is only from the suction side? So anything past the pump only will cause water leak? I dont think I get how that works. But I dont have any water leaks that I know of.

In that case, the one thing that stands out in my mind is the chlorinator line I have connected from suction line to the pump output line when I stopped using the chlorinator. I will hopefully get the plugs for that delivered in a few days.

Also the main thing that bothers me is DE leaking into the pool. Not sure if there are other issues with an air leak as my pump primes and runs just fine without any air leaks after a couple of minutes of running.
 
So if you have visible air bubbles (pump running) sloshing or flowing that you can see through the pump basket lid, you have a suction side leak(s)

The suction side of your system for this purpose is between the pump and the suction pipe coming out of the ground. I WOldL SUGGEST YOU NOT WORK ON ANYTHING else until you fix that leak.
 
okay understood on the suction side leak. I was trying to read up on how to detect where the leak is. So far I tried a smoke pen I have for attic airlfow investigation, but that didn't really show anything. I tried with the pump running, the pump startign and the pump off.

I also saw online that some hayward pumps have an oring on the suction side. Item #2 in this diagram Hayward Northstar Pump Parts. I bought both the oring for pumps prior to 2007 and the one for the pumps after. I am not sure if either is right, maybe my pump doesnt need an oring. In any case, I am attaching some pictures. There was never an o ring here, so either it doesnt need an oring or i lost it when i first inherited the pool. It seems that this oring would just hang in bettween the two connections with nothing to hold it in place. I've never seen something like that. But without an o ring, its just two hard pieces of plastic butting up against each other, covered the the threaded cap. I don't see how that would make a good seal, specially if the plastic degrades over time.

Other than that, I guess it could be any of the pvc joins on the suction line. Since I don't have a method to find which one is bad, I would have to change it all. In that case, I may call in someone to do it. I have a good plumber and don't really know any good pool companies. Was wondering if I should just call the plumber and see if he'll replace the whole suction line, which is rather small. Of course, with a plumber there is no guarantee the suction side leak will be fixed. And I am also wondering if I should put a shutoff valve there while I am at it. I would need to buy that myself to give to the plumber.
I think people may not want to put a suction side valve because of the risk of turning on the system while the valve is closed? I think I feel comfortable with that risk. And on the positive side, I think while I am blowing out my lines for winterizing, I can just close that valve while blowing it out, which is maybe a better vacuum seal. What do you guys think?
 

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duraleigh said:
Many folks have success running a garden hose over the suspect joint (pump running) while observing the bubbles in the pump basket. Others report success with shaving cream
Click to expand...
I'll give it a try. For me the bubbles are always on the pump, but the bubbles on the returns only happens for like a minute after tuning on the pump. So I figure I got a minute before the system stabilizes. Or am I missing something?
 
Tried the bubbles and didn't notice anything. Also tried a hose on the possible leaks to see if the pump basket would get full of water and nothing happened.

Tried adding plumbers tape the the suction union and pump drain plugs and nothing happened.

I Was thinking the pump is looking okay to me. Maybe this pump has always ran with a big air bubble at the top near the lid. Seems like the suction is so fast that it doesn't let the basket ever fill up. Not sure if that makes sense.

But the one thing that is definitely different is the filter pressure. It was at 4 psi yesterday but seems to be around 6 now. Still it should be like 12 from past experience.

And I definitely saw it discharge DE into the pool once, but I don't know if it's done it anymore. I might have been doing something at the time to cause that issue and I'm just attributing it to the low psi problem.

One thing I have that also seems wrong is that my pump unions don't have a rubber gasket. All the literature I see online says it should have one. Although, most literature is on variable speed pumps and mine is fixed. But there is no actual place on the unions to seat the gasket. So maybe I got some sort of aftermarket union that is not really original to the pump.

If I call a PB or plumber I am starting to think they won't be able to fix anything and I should just ask for a complete replacement or the suction line and pump union.
 
I don't know of a POOL union that doesn't have o-rings. Other industries do.

Look on the union for a manufacturer or part number molded into it, usually on the top of the union.
Also post a picture of the union.
the o-ring can be round our square. It is held in place by the female threaded end of the coupler.
You do not want teflon tape on the union threads.
Unions should be hand tight.
I suspect your are missing o-rings.
 
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