Low flow and I have an air leak somewhere?

[raptor45]

I'm a newbie to pools and this awesome website!

I had a pool company come out and change my sand in my sand filter two weeks ago. That didn't fix my flow problem and since then the pool company changes all o-rings on the suction side and the sand filter big o-ring. I am going to change the spider gasket and filter cap when they get here this week. However, I don't think that is going to fix it either. The techs had to cut in new 2" pipe when they changed the sand. I noticed this morning that they did a sloppy job when they installed the new union and new pipe, because the pipe from the 90 elbow to the filter is too long. It causes the union to be tilted and not flush. Could this cause my problem?

I have read quite a few posts on low flow issues and I still can't seem to find the problem. The pool company is coming out Friday, but I would like to fix thing myself if I am able.

Thanks in advance for your support!

 

[peterdaly]

How do you know you have a flow issue? (Slow return jets?)

If you bypass the filter (with the spin lever on top), does the problem go away?

 

[raptor45]

Here are. Some pics. Can my back flow valve shown cause an issue with limiting flow? I do have bubbles the size of a dime coming out of the ports with 10% flow only. It seems like it is coming into the filter faster than that....I don't understand how this plumbing works.

 

[raptor45]

Yes, slow return jets are running at 10%. When you put the sand filter to backwash, the flow eventually gets up to 90% of what it use to be. When it was struggling this morning, I pushed on the new union and my backwash started working much better. I pulled the filter basket off as well and verified the impeller is clear of debris. Thanks for the reply.

 

[timerguy]

You may have a little problem with the nomenclature. A return is where your filtered water is returnedito the pool. A skimmer is where your water is taken from your pool to go to the pump and filter. You mention the drain "return" is broken and capped-- that's too bad. The cocked line I can see should probably not cause a flow problem. Flow is usually measured by a psi gauge on the filter. Higher than "normal" usually results in a weaker flow coming out of the returns and usually means your filter needs to be cleaned by backwashing it.
Also, just now looking carefully at your pic, it looks like your vavle is on waste. That should result in no flow to the returns.
I see why you can't tell what the plumbing is all about. Those black lines look like they may be flow switches? I'd have no idea why there's so many of them.

 

[jblizzle]

Need more pictures to get a full understanding of the plumbing ....

If you reach your limit, to post more pictures, you either need to raise your storage allotment by Becoming a TFP Supporter or follow the How To Post Pictures tutorial.

 

[raptor45]

Your right, my nomenclature is backward. Thanks for note. I took the sand filter valve apart and didn't put it back together correctly, I will when I get the new gasket. The psi was at 28, then I had the sand replaced. It went down to normal (10 psi ) with 75% flow, then climbed to 16 psi with 20% flow, after the tech replaced o-rings was still at 20% flow and now is down to 10% flow Been at 18 psi the last couple of days with the needle unstable as can be. It's sucking air someplace..... Thanks for reply timer guy

 

[raptor45]

Here are two more pics, this should show you everything?

 

[peterdaly]

Ignoring the low flow issue, you should be able to hear the air leak. Listen to the PVC joints for hissing.

 

[raptor45]

Can't hear any hissing. I was reading a post on here about digging up dirt and checking the first elbow out of the pump house. Ugh, I have concrete there. Could my sand filter be causing this? It seems that is where it started, and I have different results when trying things on that side of the pump. There is not a lot of air bubbles coming out of the jets today. 2-5 bubbles a minutes now and they are the size of a pencil eraser.

 

[raptor45]

Cap on the filter didn't fix it. I am pretty sure that the tech's did a sloppy job of changing the sand in the sand filter. They are coming out Friday. I have had varying degrees of success as it relates to flow when I would backwash the filter.