Pump troubleshooting advice

[Brett2]

Hello, first I must say this forum is extremely informative and have already found numerous answers to some problems so far. However, I have yet to find an answer relating to my particular pump issue. I will also say I'm a little new to the sand filter type pump so please bear with me.

I purchased a used Intex 2100 GPH pump (3/4hp I believe). I don't think this pump has actually ever been placed into use as there is no sand in the filter unit and all the "plumbing" seems to be new and clean also. Here is the problem. The pump powers on and doesn't seem to be excessively noisy and no sound of rattling. There doesn't appear, however, to be any suction from the intake nozzle and very little air blowing from the output nozzle. I have not hooked anything else up at this point. Shouldn't I be able to notice a vacuum from the intake nozzle without any hookups? Any advice on where to proceed from here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[one_knight4u]

Air behaves alot different than water in some respects and inside a pump designed to pump water you may not feel much air movement.
I would continue to hook it up but with provisions to remove it just in case it doesn't work.

 

[Brett2]

Ok so I hooked the pump up sans filter to see if I could get any water to pump. It did not. I made sure to fill up the inlet tube and pre-filter basket first. Once the pump was turned on, half of the basket was empty but no water was coming out if the outlet tube. Any additional thoughts?

Found something else... took off the inlet housing and noticed impeller is rotating. It was loose, though, so I tightens it back down onto the shaft (clockwise). When I turned the pump back on, the impeller then proceeds to unscrew itself while rotating. It doesn't come off the shaft and will still rotate. What else could I be missing?
Thanks,
Brett