Diagnose Intex pump issue and filter question?

[sushi]

Hello, I have the 15' x 48" soft Intex pool and the small pump that comes with it - 1000 or 750 gph. I wonder if I'm misunderstanding the instructions - I prime the pump first by unscrewing the little knob on top until water pours out the top, then retighten. *Then* plug it in. It was nice and quiet the first few days. Now it seems to rattle and when I check the knob on top (while its running), water no longer comes out the top. Is it supposed to? I can see that the water is moving in the pool - the outlet stream is strong and the "sucking" tube's suction isn't detectable (that may be the pump size?). The water looks good and tests fine, maybe just lucky because we've only been it in about 5 minutes total!

Question two is how to attach the skimmer basket. I swear I've read the instructions and watched the DVD several times and something in my brain is not connecting. Right now, the suction opening has a white sort of mesh cover on it. The skimmer basket has a ~2' hose and a connector that doesn't seem to match up. Am I supposed to replace the current white mesh cover with the skimmer basket's hose and connection?

Also, may I ask what color your filter becomes? :lol: Again, we've used it for 5 minutes total, there doesn't seem to be any debris at all in the pool, and when I took the filter out to rinse it, the papery part is a rusty color here and there. Is that possibly a byproduct of the chemicals?

 

[frogabog]

Air. Tip the pump so that the outlet is higher than the inlet. Bubbles will come out. The skimmer seems to pull air somehow. I haven't figured out why yet. I purge our pump daily, minimum. Much more if the kids are swimming but I also run the pump(s) full time. I have two actually, one is not on a skimmer and is simply a pump hung from bungees with a bat weight holding the suction end down to the bottom.

To purge the air, you have to unplug the pump. It won't come out while it's running through the valve on the top. That's why I say tip the pump, but don't let it cavitate too long. It's not good for the seal. Tip, untip... let the air go through... tip again till you hear no more cavitation.

Yes, take the mesh thing off. Just insert the skimmer outlet into the fitting, then clamp. The mesh thing is what we use on the bat weighted suction end of the second pump.

Filters get dirty fast, but they can be blown out with the garden hose and re-used. For cleaning, use dishwasher detergent in a bucket, soak. Rinse and re-use. I also like to keep my filters a little dirty, it helps filter the finer particles if needed. Lots of junk in the pool however (bugs, debris, pollen, hawthorne tree petals and stamens... kids swimming and dropping hair and kid goo) means cleaning them more often, every few days to a week. Dawn dishwashing detergent also works well to whiten them up but I don't bother with that much, the hose works fine if not a little wet...

Raise the pump above the pool to change the filter, it's less wet that way.

How's the water? Have you read pool school?

 

[supertune]

When I was using my 637R Intex pump (I have upgraded to a waterway sand filter system now)
I would leave the pump running when I changed the filter, this way the pump kept up and wouldn't let any water come out the housing. After tightening up lid, then unplug the pump and open bleed screw to the filter chamber and rocking it to get more out, when no more air was coming out, close the screw and plug back in.

 

[sushi]

I've read Pool School, I'm sorry if it doesn't sound like I have. ;-)

Okay, so I've bled the air out, tipped it, etc. Plug it back in and its still noisier than usual. If the outlet hose is causing water to move in the pool, can I assume the pump is working, even if I can't feel suction from the suction side?

 

[carterj92]

I just wanted to say, the Intex Cartridge pumps do tend to rattle a little so I wouldn't worry too much. I would advise you to think about replacing the pump later on if you want to keep the pool for a while. $150 will get you an Intex Sandfilter with all the adapters for your pool. You don't have to buy filters, just fill it with Sand about every 5 yrs.

 

[jsf0656]

I just wanted to say, the Intex Cartridge pumps do tend to rattle a little so I wouldn't worry too much. I would advise you to think about replacing the pump later on if you want to keep the pool for a while. $150 will get you an Intex Sandfilter with all the adapters for your pool. You don't have to buy filters, just fill it with Sand about every 5 yrs.

hey, i just noticed where you live. i am in albany about 100 miles SE of you. howdy neighbor!

 

[frogabog]

The return should be blasting, with a fair amount of force. When that force is reduced it's either air, or the filter is plugged up. Do you have the skimmer hooked up yet? You should see the water passing over one side sucking bugs and surface dirt into the skimmer. That helps with knowing if it's working properly.

The pump really shouldn't be noisy. I have a summer escapes brand 1000gph pump that apparently is designed to rattle, it's super noisy. But I can hardly hear the Intex pump even when I get right up near it. Super quiet.

Did you push the filter down so that it seats securely? You do have to press them down so that the inner circle seats on the collar.

If you can't get the rattle to go away by purging, it would seem that something is wrong because Intex actually makes a fairly decent pump as compared to other brands. They just aren't terribly efficient at the lower gph. 2500gph would be much better.

 

[EJohnson]

Also, may I ask what color your filter becomes? :lol: Again, we've used it for 5 minutes total, there doesn't seem to be any debris at all in the pool, and when I took the filter out to rinse it, the papery part is a rusty color here and there. Is that possibly a byproduct of the chemicals?

If you are seeing this after running the filter for 5 minutes total, you probably have a very significant iron content in your water. The iron is disolved in the water and tends to settle out in the pool and be picked up in the filter. You'll begin to see less and less of it over time as you clean the filter, but you'll probably never be totally rid of it as each time you add water to the pool, you'll add a little back in.

If you do have a lot of iron in your water (which is possible, even in properly regulated municipal water systems), you might need to run the filter constantly for a few days and clean the filter several times per day to get rid of it. I've seen my filter cartridge in the past be totally, solid dark red-orange with iron to the point where a 4000gal/hr pump literally couldn't push water through it. Another option is to use some metal-out to settle the iron to the bottom of the pool, then vacuum the water out of the bottom of the pool using the pump (without the cartridge installed) into your storm drain, then top off with fresh water (the refill will give you some iron back, but not nearly what you got rid of).

The first thing you learn with Intex pools is that the pool pumps are almost always undersized, and they can be a little noisy after they've run for a few days. I've got an old 2500 gallon Intex pump I bought a few years ago that makes racket like gravel rattling (obviously has a bad bearing). However, it has run like this for 3 years and I've used to to drain my 12,500 gallon pool several times.
The thing just runs and runs.

 

[sushi]

Thank you everyone! I tipped the pump around some more, and also moving the hoses a bit seemed to release more air. It is quieter now. Also, when we removed the mesh intake cap and replaced it with the skimmer basket hose cap, the water started moving more forcefully and the skimmer basket is definitely working (although there is nothing to skim yet!) Maybe there was a bad air bubble or a kink.

I rinsed my filter less than 24 hours ago and then again just now and the same light rust color was back. I wonder if we do indeed have high iron content even though we're on regular city water. Frogabog, I'm just north of you ... does Portland have a lot of iron in the water?

 

[EJohnson]

Thank you everyone! I tipped the pump around some more, and also moving the hoses a bit seemed to release more air. It is quieter now. Also, when we removed the mesh intake cap and replaced it with the skimmer basket hose cap, the water started moving more forcefully and the skimmer basket is definitely working (although there is nothing to skim yet!) Maybe there was a bad air bubble or a kink.

I rinsed my filter less than 24 hours ago and then again just now and the same light rust color was back. I wonder if we do indeed have high iron content even though we're on regular city water. Frogabog, I'm just north of you ... does Portland have a lot of iron in the water?

If it is just lightly rust colored after 24 hours, you don't have what I consider to be a major problem. The filter is actually doing its job and will eventually eliminate the majority of the iron as you clean it regularly over time.

Trust me - before they added the aeration equipment to our local water system last year to oxidize the iron, mine would have been more than lightly rust covered within 15 minutes of use and would have required regular filter cleanings every 3-4 hours of filter use the first 2-3 days.