Pump Basket won't completely fill.

[Scottman]

I opened the pool last week and turned on the pump and the basket would only get half full and low pressure. I took apart all unions and the pump lid and drain plugs and inspected and relubricated with no result. After researching this site I suspected the pump lid o ring and ordered one and that didn't help. I turned off one of my skimmer line valves alternately and it did the same thing. Today I bypassed the skimmer plumbing and went from the pump to the pool with 2 inch pvc and still had the problem. I have spread shaving cream on every visible joint, lid, plug and valve with no noticible suction results. After I hooked it back up I did get the basket to fill within an inch and a half from the top. The problem is my heater will not work because the flow is too low. Is this caused by the pump not being fully primed? I have read of others having this issue and they just live with it. I am experiencing low flow that I assume is tied to the pump basket not being full. I do not see and bubbles coming out of the returns. The pump is a 2 speed Hayward 3200 but I always run it on high because the heater won't work on low.

I'm about ready to pull what little of hair I have out of my head!

 

[Richard320]

Question: do you actually see and hear a difference between high and low speeds? It sort of sounds like the thing is stuck on low.

 

[Scottman]

Question: do you actually see and hear a difference between high and low speeds? It sort of sounds like the thing is stuck on low.

Richard, Thank you! It got me thinking in the right direction. As I stated in the original post, I never run on low speed because I have a faulty intermatic dual switch so when I go to low speed I have to switch two wires around and it's a pain but now I remember switching the wire last fall to circulate when temps where dipping below freezing overnight before I winterized so I switched the wires and it worked perfectly. I know, dumb mistake. Next year I'll shove a big noted in the panel if I do that again!

 

[n240sxguy]

If you don't want to replace the timer, you could wire in a switch to change speeds. That way you can go to low speed easier in the fall if you need to.