Pool - lots of air - no pressure - no leak

[mitch08]

A buddy of mine just moved into a house with an inground vinyl pool.
DE filter... Pretty typical plumbing.

He gets tons of air in the pump basket, his pressure is very low... After running the pump for a few hours the pressure goes down to almost zero and almost nothing comes out of the returns. When he backwashes it goes up to about 10 and then comes down again.

He did the bucket test with the filter off for 12 hours and on for 12 hours and the pool does not appear to be leaking at all. (Unless the test wasnt done long enough)...

Any suggestions on where to look if there is no leak?

 

[Bama Rambler]

The most common place for a system to leak air in is the pump strainer basket lid. It can leak a lot of air in and not leak any water out. Another place is the skimmer sucking air in. If the level is low or the weir sticks even a little it'll suck enough air in to cause the pump to lose prime.

Remove the strainer basket lid and clean and lube it real good. Check the skimmer while the pump is running to see if it's creating a vortex sucking in air. Beyond that, it's looking at all the plumbing fittings including the pump strainer basket drain plug.

 

[mitch08]

The most common place for a system to leak air in is the pump strainer basket lid. It can leak a lot of air in and not leak any water out. Another place is the skimmer sucking air in. If the level is low or the weir sticks even a little it'll suck enough air in to cause the pump to lose prime.

Remove the strainer basket lid and clean and lube it real good. Check the skimmer while the pump is running to see if it's creating a vortex sucking in air. Beyond that, it's looking at all the plumbing fittings including the pump strainer basket drain plug.

Thanks... I will check all of this out tonight and report back for more advice :lol:

 

[mitch08]

Well, you were 100% spot on. The problem was in the pump basket.

Took care of that and there seems to be no air at all in the system.

The pressure still feels a bit weak to me. But I think its cause of how many returns he has in the pool.
Its about a 15 x 30 inground pool. There are 5 returns. 3 of the returns in the main part of the pool, and 2 at the stairs.
So maybe thats why... If I turn off the returns in the pool, the stair returns blast like crazy and pressure goes way up.

Anyway, thanks for your help!!!

 

[Bama Rambler]

You're very welcome. I'm glad it was that easy and thank you greatly for coming back and posting the fix.

 

[mitch08]

Yeah, one of my pet peeves here is when people ask for help, a bunch of people give them advice, and you never hear from them again.

It is so much more helpful if they let you know what corrected the problem if anything... Not to mention much more courteous to let the people know and thank them for all the help they have given.

Anyway, thanks again!!!!!!!!