New Pool Pump Question

Richie Rich · Sep 16, 2015

Now that I have had water in my pool for 26 Days

I have noticed a few things that I would like some clarification on.

1. When the pump is running, there is small amounts of air in the pump basket window, and if it is on high, the amount of air is even greater and a small amount of air bubbles come from the jets in the spa (does this mean I have a suction leak somewhere or is this normal to have a small amount of water?)
2. When I open up the pump basket to clean it out, the water in the pump housing siphones back thru the pipes and starts to gurgle. Then I have to purge the air from the filter

Thanks in advance for all of your help... I would be lost right now without this site

JohnT · Sep 16, 2015

Sounds like you might have a suction side leak. Check out Suction Side Air Leaks in Pool School for help tracking down the problem.

Richie Rich · Sep 16, 2015

JohnT said:
Sounds like you might have a suction side leak. Check out Suction Side Air Leaks in Pool School for help tracking down the problem.

Thank you for that...I will check all of this out myself but this should be covered by the PB as it was only finished less than a month ago. But I would like to know where the leak is at so I can be sure they fix it correctly

thanks again

Texas Splash · Sep 16, 2015

In addition to what JohnT noted, in reference to your question #2 above ... (in comparison) the water in my pump basket will do the same thing if I don't shut-off my 3-way valves before/after the pump station. It is important to isolate the pump equipment from the pool when opening the system (i.e. opening basket lid, cleaning the filter, etc). Just a thought.

yangcha1 · Sep 16, 2015

Really? Mine has small amount of air when the pump runs at low speed. The air is gone if run at high speed.

JohnT said:
Sounds like you might have a suction side leak. Check out Suction Side Air Leaks in Pool School for help tracking down the problem.

Agent99 · Sep 16, 2015

I almost always have a few bubbles squirreling around the pump basket lid. It is no big deal near as I can tell. My pump primes in under 10 seconds every time.

Yes, when one 'cracks the seal' in the system to clean out the pump basket, unless you have valves to shut/isolate things (I don't...only 3-ways and a few check valves and none near the pump), it'll gurgle and spit and make a lot of noise. You then purge the air via the air valve on top of the filter when you restart the system and you might need to refill the pump basket, too.

As far as I know, for my system, this is all quite normal

JohnT · Sep 16, 2015

yangcha1 said:
Really? Mine has small amount of air when the pump runs at low speed. The air is gone if run at high speed.

That's often the case. The OP, however, has more bubbles at high speed.

Richie Rich · Sep 16, 2015

JohnT said:
That's often the case. The OP, however, has more bubbles at high speed.

This is the case

Richie Rich · Sep 17, 2015

So I played with this a little last night...I turned the valve that controls the pool and the cleaner port all of the way to cleaner and more bubbles showed up in the window...so I then turned the valve all of the way to pool and got zero bubbles in the window. So I either have a leak in the cleaner hose (The Pool Cleaner 2 wheeler) or in the PVC from the pool cleaner to the valve by the equipment. I will disconnect the cleaner tonight and try it again with my wife holding the cleaner port door open to see if there are bubbles or not with the valve back on the cleaner side

I will keep you all updated...

thank you