Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it helps

[JamesT]

My new Intex 1600 presure dropped all of a sudden from almost the yellow mark to around 2. I took it apart and found it clogged with bamboo needles. I'm sure pine needles would do the same thing. Here are some pictures of the process and i'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

Presure is back to normal

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

Excellent post. Thanks for posting it.

 

[JamesT]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

Thanks...I was glad to do it. I forgot to type in any instructions and just posted pictures. I'm adding them below.

Here are some step by step instructions which might make things go a little smoother if you find you need to unclog the impeller.

Since I was going to have to remove my connections from the pump anyway I decided to make some new gaskets for the screw on Intex fittings. I had noticed a very slow drip and wanted to correct this while I was at it.

You can purchase a sheet of rubber gasket material ($3-4 dollars) and trace around one of the regular Intex gaskets and cut your own from the sheets. The sheets come in 1/16” and 1/8” thickness. I think either one would work fine but I made mine from 1/8”.

Install these along with the regular Intex step washer and you won’t have a water or air leak when you reconnect. And you won’t need to apply too much pressure to the screw on fitting.

There are 8 bolts and nuts around the impeller housing that can be removed with a screwdriver. Use caution when removing the 3 bottom bolts that you don’t loose the nuts. Once removed the housing will separate, there is an O-Ring gasket that makes the seal so you don’t have to pry anything apart.

I used a small air compressor to blow the needles out that was clogging the impeller. You can also just pull them out by hand it just takes a little longer.

Once that is completed you just need to put everything back together. The first 7 nuts and bolts are simple to install. The nut on the very bottom of the housing is a bit tougher because you can’t reach it to hold the nut in place.

Fold a piece of duct tape over itself leaving the sticky side out and wrap that around a flat blade screwdriver. Put the small nut on the tape and slide it into place with the screwdriver. You can see through the hole that you have it in the correct position, and then start the screw from the top side. You can turn the pump over and look through the bottom side to make sure you see the threads and that the nut is in straight.

Put the strainer basket back on and reconnect the hose fittings and when it fills up with water turn the pump on. The pressure should be back to normal.

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

It looked pretty self explanatory even down to the reverse duct tape to hold the nuts!

 

[mrmacdad12]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

Awesome, I now know what I have to look forward to since there is a nice fence line of nothing but bamboo 10 feet tall. Hopefully this isnt something that I will need to do during the season. I use the solar cover which keeps most of the needles to the top side and I manually skim them out right after cover removal. when using the over the wall skimmer I use a paint strainer around the basket which catches most the smaller debris like the needles. use the wall strainer when covered and filtering. Atleast intex made the impeller with a serviceable o-ring setup.

 

[Livinright]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

I'm going to add a skimmer sock on my Intex sand filter basket after seeing this!

 

[JamesT]

Re: Intex Pump Presure Dropped? Try this and see if it help

+1 on the skimmer sock.

I have one on mine now and it seems to be doing the trick. I think as the bamboo matures it starts to grow more and more of the little needles. Any time the wind blows very hard I get them everywhere. Bamboo is almost impossible to get rid of and my fence line is covered with it just across the fence.

 

[jmcdtucson]

Resurrecting this thread to give a big thank you! Just bought a new aquabug and thought it was defective. It would just head to the nearest corner and sulk.
Thanks to this article I realized my pump pressure was low because my outflow strainer was 1/2 clogged. Fixed in about 5 minutes and pressure is back up to 10 psi.