Vacuum leak detection (Air intrusion)

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S

salvationarmy

0
Jun 17, 2011
57
NW Florida
I am getting a substantial amount of air in my filters. I thought that the vacuum leak might be my basket filter lid right before the pump, but I put a heavy layer of lube on the gasket so that I am sure no air is getting sucked in there.

Any tips on leak detection at PVC joints/valves/etc?

Thanks,
Mike
 
The most common way of detecting leaks on the suction side is to run water over the plumbing and see if the bubbles in pump basket stop. If they do you've found your leak. I't's also been suggested to take shaving foam and coat the fitting joints with a bead of it and where ever it sucks the foam in you can see it.
 
I do not have anywhere to view the bubbles (neither the basket lid nor the filter top are clear), so I tried the shaving cream, but could not find any leaks, even though I am getting a lot of air in my filters. Any other ideas? Also, will a large amount of air cause problems with filters/anything else? I have thought about having the filter air valves continuously bleed into tubing and back to my gravity flow tank, if I cannot locate the leaks...
 
I recently discovered a small leak that confounded me for a while. Ended up being a bad O-ring on one of the drain plugs (happened to be the one in the pump strainer).
 
That could work if the leak is large enough to suck the smoke in so you could see it. A better way would be to pressure test the plumbing by plugging all the inlets & outlets and pressurize the system looking for leaks. That may not be feasible on your pool. Without being able to 'see' into the system, it's going to be hard to troubleshoot. Maybe you could get a clear lid for the pump basket of install a piece of clear piping on the discharge of the pump. That would allow you to see when you've found the leak.
 

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Dave and Zea3,
Thanks for the suggestions. I have full perimeter gutter with gravity flow to a tank. There is no opportunity for air to get in unless the level goes to low- which is easy to check. It would be difficult to pressure test, because I have so many inlets and outlets. I'll check out installing some clear pipe, lid, or filter dome.
 
Found the leak! (At least one of them). It is in a PVC joint between the basket filter and the pump. Re-doing the plumbing would be expensive, so I would like to just seal the leak between the existing fittings. Any suggestions? I thought I might try a fillet of PVC cement, with the pump running, and let it suck it into the void.
 
You can try the PVC cement, but some A+B epoxy is probably going to be a better fix since it'll cure under water.
If you could get a fernco coupling over it that would work but it requires the piping to be cut apart.
 
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