I've noticed that I'm getting air bubbles (not many, only 1 or 2 shooting out every 10-15 seconds) coming from only one of my 3 return jets. It's the return that is the farthest from the equipment pad. This return is on the deep end of my pool. Since I only see bubbles coming from that one return jet and not the other two, does that automatically narrow it down to an air leak in that one return line's plumbing? I've never noticed water in the ground anywheres. If the air leak was from my pump, wouldn't it affect all 3 return jets? Just trying to figure out what might be the cause. It really doesn't bother me, but I figured I'd ask.
Air bubbles from only one of my 3 returns?
- Thread starter CajunGuy
- Start date
I think a leak in a return should just cause you to lose water, not let air in unless it. You may have an area in the piping to that jet that is higher than the rest of i and there is some air trapped in it. Can you direct more flow to that jet? That might purge the air and stop the bubbles.
No, my pool returns run from a single return pipe and then (I'm assuming) they must branch off into 3 once it gets closer top the pool. It doesn't seem like my pool loses any water. The funny thing is, I don't notice these bubbles ALL the time from that one return, just every so often there will be periods were I see the bubbles. I recently had my pool pump apart (rebuilding it) for about 2 weeks, so I'm sure a lot of air got into the pipes and maybe there is still some trapped?
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Yes, I do have a pump basket.
There's about 3-4 quarter sized air pockets inside of the lid (which seems to be a little more than normal), which is more than my spa pump that only has one small nickel sized sir pocket inside the lid. The pump still primes up easy. I've replaced the o-ring on it. The lid tightens up, but I fine it doesn't tighten up all the way, almost like the pump ramp may be warped ever so slightly. But if it were the pump, wouldn't ALL 3 returns be getting air bubbles shooting out?
Not necessarily. If thats the "higher" return the bubbles may get pushed out there. So you might have a very small suction side leak. Does the pool lose water when the pump is off?
No, not that I noticed, but it doesn't appear to lose any water while the pump is running either. It does seem that my spa loses a bit more water (meaning more than the normal evaporation) at a slightly faster rate than my pool. I have 4 drains in the bottom of my spa and two go to the pool pump suction and the other two goes to the spa pump (at least that's what I was told by the pool inspector when I bought the house, although he assumed this from my plumbing). But majority of the time my spa suction is closed and I'm just pulling water from skimmer and main drain suction lines (I have 3 suction lines total...main drains, skimmer, and spa).
Do you notice these bubbles at all when the SWG is off?
This sounds an awful lot like normal operation for SWG. My SWG pumps the chlorine gas through my IFC system. Even though there about 3 heads in each zone, only 1 squirts out bubbles.
Next time I notice it doing it, I will run and turn off my SWG and see if it continues.
Possible that one return is at the end of the run? Plug the other two and see if you can push that air out?