Overwhelmed!

[MikeInTN]

Trish,

Here's a picture of where I keep my water level on my skimmer :

I use a weir, and if I let the water get halfway down the skimmer, it'll start sucking air.

I looked at the picture of your pool, and it appears that your skimmer doesn't have one (a weir). You might try putting a tennis ball in your skimmer basket to help keep the pump from sucking air.

 

[pfleavell]

It does have a weir! Thewater is all the way up to the max line. It is no longer making the sucking noise, but air is getting into the lines somehow. The top return valve is putting bubbles in the water. I finally had to just turn it off because there was too much air in the filter. I put bleach in there when I first turned the pump on. I hope it is not going to damage the liner because I can't run the pump until I figure out why air is still going into it. The bubbles never disappear in the pump strainer. The water sounds like it is surging. It will go slow and then it will go through really fast! I don't know, it is driving me crazy.

Thanks for all of your help!
Trish

 

[MikeInTN]

Does the pump basket appear to be filled, but with bubbles? Or does it only fill up like half way when the pump's running? Also, is your skimmer basket seated right? The other day while I was doing my ph and chlorine tests, my pump sounded like it was surging as well. When I looked in the pump strainer, the strainer only looked to be about half full. I checked my skimmer and found my skimmer basket had gotten dislodged and turned sideways, and was letting the skimmer suck air. Speaking of which, I need to go check that now to make sure everything's copacetic for the morning when the pump turns on.

If push comes to shove, call your installer and have them come out and see what the problem is. We bought our pool from Watson's, and I have to say that their service department is great about responding to the initial issues we had.

 

[pfleavell]

It is constant bubbles in the strainer. I think air is getting in around the lid? Maybe? How do I take the lid off without water going everywhere? I turned off the on/off valve and opened the air valve on top of the filter and I think I turned off the other valve. Do not know which number is off. I thought maybe it was 1 but water still gushes out. I was going to try and lubricate the o-ring and tighten the lid, but I can't figure out how to get the water from gushing out. I know all of this mkes me sound really dumb(which I'm not) I just don't know anything about pools!!! I guess I should have educated myself before we bought the pool.

Trish

 

[MikeInTN]

It is constant bubbles in the strainer. I think air is getting in around the lid? Maybe? How do I take the lid off without water going everywhere? I turned off the on/off valve and opened the air valve on top of the filter and I think I turned off the other valve. Do not know which number is off. I thought maybe it was 1 but water still gushes out. I was going to try and lubricate the o-ring and tighten the lid, but I can't figure out how to get the water from gushing out. I know all of this mkes me sound really dumb(which I'm not) I just don't know anything about pools!!! I guess I should have educated myself before we bought the pool.

Trish

It doesn't make you sound dumb at all. I didn't know a thing about a pool when we got ours, I had to ask questions and learn just like you are now, so don't think a thing about it. To remove the lid from the pump strainer, turn the valve in front of the basket to off, turn your 3 way valve to off (if you know which number that is), open the air bleed valve on top of the filter housing, and then get a pair of pliers and remove the round plug that's at the bottom rear of the filter housing. This will allow all of the water to drain down out of the filter. Once the water slows to a trickle, you should be able to take the lid to the pump strainer off without any water gushing out.

 

[Floater]

Our pump sounds like the surging sound when I do something like try to take the weir off or move it while the pump is running because it sucks air. Then you see the air bubbles in the pump. Have you left the top valve open on the filter housing until you've made sure ALL the air is out of the system? Should shoot a good stream of water out with out stuttering. We have the exact same system and this is what usually fixes my surge.

Also, know that I went and looked at my set up, even though we have the same equipment, I only have two valves total. One is going from the pump to filter which specifies "filter" or "waste" and the other is the valve on the top of the filter housing. I do not have any valves on the return side of the pool coming out of the Aqua-Smarte (oh and that itself has a setting for the amount of chlorine to be dispensed. So, I'm now confused on the valves you all are talking about?

 

[pfleavell]

Thanks for all of your help guys, I finally fixed it! They had the thing that goes in the skimmer upside down! It was up like if I was going to vacuum the pool. I felt really stupid when we realized it and mad because that was all it was. You guys are amazing though. Great info and great site.

 

[MikeInTN]

Thanks for all of your help guys, I finally fixed it! They had the thing that goes in the skimmer upside down! It was up like if I was going to vacuum the pool. I felt really stupid when we realized it and mad because that was all it was. You guys are amazing though. Great info and great site.

Outstanding!! You rock!!

 

[pfleavell]

test results-update

Hey everyone, thanks for all the help you guys gave me. Watson's came out today and fixed the leaks! They showed me how to run everything and made sure my water was good! But just to double check, I took a sample of water up to the local pool store and had them test it. Here are the results:

CL: 2.6
FC: 2.6
pH: 7.3
TA: 115
TH: 145
CYA: 0
CA: 0
I just added the cya on Sunday and I understand it could take up to a week to see any results from that. With my pool do I need to even add the calcium? I didn't think that with a vinyl liner that I needed calcium. Do I need to do anything? They(pool store) said I need to add something to bring the ph up.

 

[JasonLion]

No, you don't need to add any calcium.

You PH is just fine. 7.5 is the ideal level, but it is fine where it is. You shouldn't add chemicals you don't need to add. In the long run try to aim to have the PH average 7.5 over time. So if you do need to adjust it, adjust it a little past 7.5 so it will tend to drift back to 7.5 on it's own.