Water not pulling from second pool pump for pop ups

[Danscomp]

I am closing on a house soon that happened to come with a nice fully tiled pool. The pump for the cleaning system is not pulling any water. here are the details:

-It has run dry (dont see any water pulling or building in chamber) for countless hours. The pump doesn't fill up with water(prime).
-how can I check if the line(in from pool) is clogged?
-this pool has 1 main drain, 1 skimmer basket, and another deck lid that houses a white lit(that must be attached while filter pump is running). It has a skimmer "sock" ? in it...
-It has paddock pools pcc2000 pop up heads.
- I have one pool pump for de filter and another that appears to be for the pop up heads
-their is a multi piped globe about 1 foot off the ground. I believe this operates the cycles on the pop ups.
-how do I approach this?
-I don't believe the auto clorinator thing is working because seller has floating with chlorine in it...
I attached a pic of the setup. I wish i knew the schematics on these pipes.

 

[benavidescj]

Your picture is too small to see the equipment. Anyways, did you try filling the pump chamber with water before turning it on? To do this open the chamber, fill with water, close chamber then turn on the system. This will fill the supply lines with water which may help. And an obvious one, if you have a multiport valve prior to the pump make sure it is open.

 

[Danscomp]

attached some better pics this time-
- I repeatedly let a garden hose run for like 10 mins and then quickly close the lid and fire it up- no such luck
-is the pump shot from running dry- no water being sucked in
-the new pic shows that there is two jandy valves.
-The one closet two you- I can barley make out "return" on the right side
-the jandy valve lower in the pic- i can barley make out "main drain" on the left side
-any ideas on where these pipes go?
-Please help!

 

[benavidescj]

The white lines coming out of the ground and going to the white pump are the main drain and skimmer. You can close the valve over one of the pipes and go to the pool to see which one is still drawing water. The skimmer one will be the easiest to check. If you close the valve over one of the lines and still draw water from the skimmer you know that the open line is the skimmer suction side and obviously the other line is the main drain. You can use a sharpie to mark the lines. The black pump for the pop ups may be bad. You may have a air leak on the suction side or as you said a plugged suction line. I am not an expert on trouble shooting this and hopefully someone will answer this question. You should not use the chlorinator even if it did work because it uses pucks. Pucks are bad in that they build up either stabilizer or Calcium in the pool. Over time either of these will cause you problems. The better thing to do is either add bleach manually or convert to a salt system. That way you have better control of your chemicals and water quality.

 

[poolvibe]

Probably ran the pump dry and have a leaky nipple. Try placing something like a wet towel over the threads on the suction side of the pump to pull prime. You should feel a little suction at the threads and hear the "air" stop. Just one possibility.

 

[Danscomp]

The white lines coming out of the ground and going to the white pump are the main drain and skimmer. You can close the valve over one of the pipes and go to the pool to see which one is still drawing water. The skimmer one will be the easiest to check. If you close the valve over one of the lines and still draw water from the skimmer you know that the open line is the skimmer suction side and obviously the other line is the main drain. You can use a sharpie to mark the lines. The black pump for the pop ups may be bad. You may have a air leak on the suction side or as you said a plugged suction line. I am not an expert on trouble shooting this and hopefully someone will answer this question. You should not use the chlorinator even if it did work because it uses pucks. Pucks are bad in that they build up either stabilizer or Calcium in the pool. Over time either of these will cause you problems. The better thing to do is either add bleach manually or convert to a salt system. That way you have better control of your chemicals and water quality.

Thanks guys

-any ideas on where the black pump sucks from- just curious on what line could be clogged.
-when I use the jady in front of the white pump it works fine in all directions but off.
- So is their another line the black pump pulls from?

-Their is a main drain, a standard skimmer with basket in it, and a third skimmer?, that has a "strainer sock" in it w/ a cover closing off the strainer area-all under water(but their is no skimmer inlet(does not pulls in surface water like the other basket strainer?) for this one. This strainer does have suction tho... If you pull up on the lid it sucks in air(starts choking)
-on the piping closest to you(looking at first pic)- one side says return not sure about the other side- this line connects to the outlet of the de filter. I think the Return side was and is turned off by jady? when I switch it nothing really happens. you can feel a little pressure kick the pipe but seems fine?...
-Should I just disconnect the black pump and take it somewhere to test? I work as a handyman and hate paying other people for repairs-
- Not sure the easiest way to approach this- determine clogged line or determine if pump is working as intended-
- If I switch the pumps, would that be an diagnosis of the pump operation?

-ahhh so many questions... Thanks so much, I need all the help I can get!!

 

[benavidescj]

Can you post a picture of that third strainer, the one that does not have an outlet to the pool? The pipes coming out of the filter and are closest to you are the return lines that go to the eyeball outlets in the pool. And yes, switching pumps would diagnose if the problem is pump related but lets look at these other things first.

 

[Danscomp]

Can you post a picture of that third strainer, the one that does not have an outlet to the pool? The pipes coming out of the filter and are closest to you are the return lines that go to the eyeball outlets in the pool. And yes, switching pumps would diagnose if the problem is pump related but lets look at these other things first.

Here is a picture of that third strainer. It is under water but hard to see in pic.

 

[Danscomp]

second pool pump is not pulling in water

Anyone have any ideas on where the pump on the right side is pulling from? Here is what I know so far:

-Pump on left(white) has an intake of Main and Skimmer. If you operate the jandy valve in a 360 degrees motion the only time it has a problem is in the off position. guessing that tells me those lines are fine?
-I have 3 pool deck round covers- One houses a standard skimmer basket, one houses an auto water filler for pool, and the other has a cover under water and also has a "skimmer sock"; not sure what this skimmer goes to? Is it maybe some kind of strainer for the main drain?
-When the white pump is running both of the skimmers are sucking.
Where the heck does that pump on the right pull its water from!? Please Help!!

 

[benavidescj]

If it were mine I would turn the white pump off, disconnect the black pump and run pressurized air in the the pump intake pipe. No more than about 30 psi (don't want to blow anything up). You should see bubbles coming up in the pool main drain or one of the skimmers. This will indicate where that pipe is connected. Other than that, get the black pump checked out to see if it is working right. If not replace it.

 

[FattyC]

That last picture you posted looks like a Paramount debris canister system, it is before the main filter and between your main drain. Also one of your pumps is a booster pump after the filter for the in-floor cleaner in case your filter gets clogged.

 

[Danscomp]

That last picture you posted looks like a Paramount debris canister system, it is before the main filter and between your main drain. Also one of your pumps is a booster pump after the filter for the in-floor cleaner in case your filter gets clogged.

Thanks guys! all the advice has helped

FattyC- you are right! I just found that out today from Leslie's pool supply. Stopped by there showing pictures and asking questions. I'm still slightly confused on how the piping is routed. I don't have an air compressor so blowing air in the lines isn't an option at the moment. Please let me know what you think:

-When the white pump is running and the black one is not; there is still suction at the canister. So does this mean the white pump connects to the normal skimmer, the main drain, AND the canister?
-The black pump plumbs to the main drain, canister then back to the "in" on the black pump only? On a dedicated line. There is no valve on that line if you look in the pic.
-Leslie's guested that the out on that black pump goes underground then back up into the center of the popup globe "sorry dont know what to call it.Haha.. its the round globe with multiple pipes going to it that operates the popups, in above pictures.
-Do they possibly share a line between the main, canister and back to a "T", that splits the two pumps?
- wish I could see an x-ray of the piping layout of the pool...