Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to line..

[Mechelle73]

I think my never lube 3-way jandy valve is sucking air into the line. I drained my pool thur/fri, and since refilling I am having problems with air entering the line and making bubbles, plus when everything is shut off water levels in the pump and filter drop way down. We've gone thru and lubed all the o-rings on pump and filter housing--that didn't work. Made sure we were sealed at pipe from pool in to pump, it's fine. When you run the equipment, you can hear a whistling/slight sucking sound near the screws in the jandy valve.

What do I need to do to troubleshoot/fix this? Or do I need to call a repair guy? Am I ok running the equipment in the interim, or should I shut it all down until fixed?

Thanks!

 

[duraleigh]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

you can hear a whistling/slight sucking sound near the screws in the jandy valve.

That sure seems like a good indicator you have identified the problem. The valves are designed to be repairable so, if you feel you are fairly handy, you should be able to disassemble it and find the issue. If not, a pool guy can likely fix it pretty easily. If you go that route, don't let him leave until you ahve restarted the pump and made sure it stopped the issue.

As far as running the pump until then, if your psi guage is at 0, I would not do it for fear of damaging the pump......the pump needs to be pushing water to keep from being overheated.

One other thought....since the issue seems to be tied into refilling, are you sure you refilled the water level high enough so that air is not sucking into the skimmers when the pump is on?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

Besides checking the water level like Dave suggested, you can run a water hose over the valve while the pump is running and if the noise/bubbles go away the valve seals are most likely the problem.

 

[Mechelle73]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

Firstly, THANK YOU for your help guys =)

My pool as an auto leveler, so it is back to its old level. I did double check to make sure that was well over the skimmer lip, and it is. My skimmer sucks water from the bottom of the basket hole, which is well below the lip of the skimmer.

Two things stop the bubbles--bleeding air out the filter valve while it's running, and the hose running over the jandy valve. That worked! So I guess we know it is indeed there. I can't decide if I am brave enough to try fiddling with that or not...

Right now I am letting the pump run a while, bleeding air from the top. It maintains 10 psi, so hopefully I won't break anything else.

Thanks again =) Any advice about trying to fix the jandy myself?

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

They're pretty straight forward to repair. Here's a parts breakdown for one. It'll give you an idea of how they come apart. The first thing I would try is tightening down the bonnet screws a little bit.

If that doesn't work, you probably should replace items 5 & 6. And be sure to lube everything with pool lube as you put it back together.

 

[duraleigh]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

Right now I am letting the pump run a while, bleeding air from the top. It maintains 10 psi, so hopefully I won't break anything else

I don't think that'll be a fix. The air you are bleeding off will simply be replaced by new air that is being sucked in at the valve.

 

[Mechelle73]

Re: Never Lube Jandy Valve seems to be sucking air in to lin

Oh I don't mean it as a fix =) I am just letting it run and filter the water while I figure out what to do. Keeping the little valve on top of the filter cannister very slightly open is keeping the bubbles away, and the levels of water in every thing OK while it runs. I got the O ring fixit kit from the pool supply, and will probably try doing a fix here shortly. If that doesn't work, pool repair guy it is. But the place I was reccomended isn't picking up their phone, and they only keep hours 3 days a week, so I don't know...