Pump losing prime when putting vacuum hose to skimmer.

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A

araczynski

0
Jul 13, 2011
17
Per the subject line... I don't recall this happening before. I throw the vacuum hose into the water and do my best to fill the hose itself with as much water as I can before i attach the skimmer adapter and hook it in (manual suction brush) But shortly after the skimmer adapter gets pulled in, the pump just loses prime.

I've tried putting the skimmer adapter when the pump is already running and also from when it is off, but the results are the same.

After i take the skimmer off and start the pump the prime comes back within 20 seconds or so by itself.

What am i doing wrong?
 
You need to make sure you have the brush already hook'd the pole&hose hook'd also..I take the hose that goes to the skimmer&put it to the return&hold there till no bubbles show&vacuum head fall's to the bottom..Then take hose&hook to adapter..Keeping it under water..It take's a little practice to get the hang of it..good luck..
 
How old is your hose line? Does your system lose prime almost instantly or does it take a minute or so? Wondering if maybe you have a crack in the line. Even if you had some air in your hose that may have resulted in losing prime, you should shortly recover, much like when you removed the hose. Make sure to raise the vacuum head to maximize water flow after you've lost prime.
 
waste said:
Welcome to TFP!!

Any chance you switched ends of the vac hose? The end that swivels goes on the vac head - the swivel allows it to draw in air if the cuff is out of the water.
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OMG for real..I have alway's stuck the swivel end on the skimmer..Because my vaccuum head swivel's at the top... :hammer:
 
Thanks for the help guys. I left the hose floating in the pool for about half a day (was ticked off after not getting it to work before) and when i came back this evening after reading your info i tried it again. Noticed the hose was more submerged than before, so not sure whether there was more water in there to keep the prime going, or if it was the fact that I connected the swivel side to the vacuum head (like the thing says I should do), but the prime dipped off about half but came back quickly and kept working.

Thanks :)
 
Hello evryone, don't want to start a new thread, but want to post my question in this thread itself, I am a first time home buyer, so as first time pool maintainer, I moved in just 1 week back, After going through the water chemistry, I am stuck with one more issue, my pump is not priming, I played little bit valves and here is the situation, If i block the "Quick skim" valvle then my pump is priming, Any idea what is the purpose of Quick skim valve ??? Please see attached pic. I also blocked the aerator valve.

I have heard a lot about this forum, I will appreciate if someone can reply back to my query, thanks
 

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That helps. I doubt the "Quik Skim" valve is the problem. What I'm thinking is that you have a suction side air leak somewhere and closing the valve increases the head which reduces the suction head and slows down the air entering the system, allowing it to prime.

Common places for air leaks are: Skimmer, Pump basket lid seal, Pump basket drain plug(s).
Check the Skimmer weir to make sure it operates freely and correctly.
Check the the skimmer isn't creating a vortex, sucking in air when trying to prime
Open the pump basket lid and clean and lube the o-ring well.
Check the basket drain plugs and reseal them.

Post back if that doesn't solve your problem and we'll have more advice.
 
As someone already posted -

-Attach vacuum head to pole and your hose (swivel end) to vacuum head.
-Drop the whole works in the pool.
-Now take the other end of the hose and hold it right against a return jet.
-Air will be forced out of your hose by the water. Your vacuum head will float up and then sink. when it sinks, there is no more air in the hose.
-Now you can attach the skimmer vacuum plate and drop it into the skimmer.

If your return jet is far from your skimmer, you can just place the palm of your had over the end of the vacuum hose while you walk to the skimmer and this will stop the water from draining out of the vacuum hose.

There is no need to leave the hose in the pool for hours, or to use your garden hose to fill it.

Oh, to remove the skimmer vacuum plate after you're done vacuuming. Stand beside your skimmer and grasp the skimmer plate (make sure you grab the plate, not the hose or you will just pull the hose off) You should be pulling up on the plate, but won't be able to remove it because of the suction. Now bring the vacuum head out of the water. Air will now be pulled into the hose - as the air reaches the skimmer plate, the suction will be lost and (you should still be pulling up on the skimmer plate) the skimmer plate is easily removed. With this method, there is no need to shut the pump off to remove the skimmer plate and you will not get air in the lines as you are removing the skimmer plate since it is pulled away as soon as the air reaches it so no air goes to the pump. I have never lost prime doing it this way.
 
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:hammer: DUH :wink:

thanks, not sure why those ideas didn't cross my mind

rcy said:
As someone already posted -

-Attach vacuum head to pole and your hose (swivel end) to vacuum head.
-Drop the whole works in the pool.
-Now take the other end of the hose and hold it right against a return jet.
-Air will be forced out of your hose by the water. Your vacuum head will float up and then sink. when it sinks, there is no more air in the hose.
-Now you can attach the skimmer vacuum plate and drop it into the skimmer.

Oh, to remove the skimmer vacuum plate after you're done vacuuming. Stand beside your skimmer and grasp the skimmer plate (make sure you grab the plate, not the hose or you will just pull the hose off) You should be pulling up on the plate, but won't be able to remove it because of the suction. Now bring the vacuum head out of the water. Air will now be pulled into the hose - as the air reaches the skimmer plate, the suction will be lost and (you should still be pulling up on the skimmer plate) the skimmer plate is easily removed. With this method, there is no need to shut the pump off to remove the skimmer plate and you will not get air in the lines as you are removing the skimmer plate since it is pulled away as soon as the air reaches it so no air goes to the pump. I have never lost prime doing it this way.
Click to expand...
 
You're learning..that's why you're here.

To be honest, I never 'thought' of any of those things either. Using the return jet to fill the hose with water was shown to me by the pool builder.

Pulling the head out of the water to empty the hose I read online somewhere (probably here). Before that, I used to turn the pump off, remove skimmer plate, then turn pump back on. Unneccesary steps and time that could be used sipping a pina colada.
 
Hmm..maybe the mods can split this into two threads??

The original post was about losing prime when trying to vacuum the pool, your thread is about pump losing prime for unknown reason, so my information about vacuuming won't help your situation at all. Wish I could help you though.
 

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