Hello I am trying to help my son with his above ground pool . When he turns the pump on it works good for about an hour and then loses suction and eventually just stops sucking water at all. I cleaned the sand filter yesterday . But the problem still exists. Any advice?
Pump loses suction
- Thread starter abrocojo
- Start date
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,900
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
Are you sure it's actually losing suction and not that the filter is backing-up clogged? Does the pump basket stay full of water?
If I cleaned out the filter why would it back up clogged? Not sure if that is the problem but how do you fix a clogged filter? If he turns it off and back in then it starts suchioning again. Would that be a leak somewhere causing it to lose suction? Or would it be the filter?
- Jun 22, 2014
- 47,900
- Pool Size
- 17888
- Surface
- Fiberglass
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-45 Plus
I asked because you can have an air leak and lose suction, or you can have too much material in the filter (clear algae for example) that will restrict water flow to the point the pump cannot move water forward. Cleaning the sand (deep clean perhaps or just backwash?) is fine, but the more info we get the better we can put together the scenario to try and figure out what's happening. Knowing your water chemistry could help if you provide a set of results. This time of year, with all the pools opening from the winter, there are a lot of chemistry problems that can have a similar effect to what you are describing. Test results would be a good place to start.
If you have no concerns about the filter or cannot provide a set of test results, you can pursue looking for an air leak on the suction side. However if that were the case, I would think the pump wouldn't wait an hour to stop pulling water, it would lose prime much quicker. If you had a leak on the pressure side past the filter, you wouldn't have a suction problem and you would most likely see a leak somewhere.
If you have no concerns about the filter or cannot provide a set of test results, you can pursue looking for an air leak on the suction side. However if that were the case, I would think the pump wouldn't wait an hour to stop pulling water, it would lose prime much quicker. If you had a leak on the pressure side past the filter, you wouldn't have a suction problem and you would most likely see a leak somewhere.