Air bubble in pump lid normal?

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miles267

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Sep 5, 2016
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Recently noticed a gradually forming air bubble in the lid of my Pentair pump. Typically there is so little air visible in the lid, it’s almost impossible to tell there’s water within.

After having some people in pool yesterday, I got an EasyTouch alert indicating low flow though I hadn’t adjusted from my typical 1200 RPM 24x7 VSP speed. Upon checking the pump, I noticed about half the pump basket was full of water which seemed to occur overnight. I routinely open the air valve at the top of my cartridge filter to bleed off any excess air, in this case there wasn’t any. Tried to open/close skimmer plumbing valves a bit in hopes that it might help isolate any air within the plumbing without success. Pool water level is normal.

After this, I simply turned the pump off, waited and turned it back on, at which point the pumped started at very high RPM (priming) and this air bubble disappeared. Then opened the filter pressure valve again and there was no air to bleed out.

Is this unusual? Or something I should just do periodically? In past, I’ve just let the VSP run 24x7 without turning off for the season.

Thanks.
 
People splashing around might have caused the skimmer to suck in some air. Set your pump to shut down at least once but preferably twice a day, just for 15 min or so. That way it will go into prime mode and purge the air from the system.

Now if you still get air returning to the lid after priming, then it’s sucking in air somewhere.
 
Arizonarob said:
People splashing around might have caused the skimmer to suck in some air. Set your pump to shut down at least once but preferably twice a day, just for 15 min or so. That way it will go into prime mode and purge the air from the system.

Now if you still get air returning to the lid after priming, then it’s sucking in air somewhere.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! Yes, there was an unusual bit of pool activity which may very well have caused that. Will see if the same issue resurfaced again this week without any swimmers which should confirm.
 
Woke up to this alert from EasyTouch. Perhaps it’s just a matter of running my VSP at 1200 RPM is too low afterall?

Chlorinator: Low Flow Error - Check Chlorinator flow switch for blockage. If running IntelliFlo pump, you may need to increase the flow rate.
 
Miles,

The idea that you have to shut your pump down and re-prime everyday, is more of an indication of a problem than a good idea... :p

My pump has run many months without every being shut off, it just should not be necessary to maintain a prime... At 1200 rpm I have a couple of silver dollar sized air bubble in the very top of my pump..

We both appear to have the same size pump and filter.. I have to run my pump at 1100 rpm to just close the flow switch, so I run at 1200 normally.. I see you have a heater, so I would have thought you'd have to run a little higher rpm to ensure your flow switch was closed.. :confused:

How does the return flow back to the pool "feel"?? When was the last time you cleaned your filter? What is your filter pressure at 1200 rpm?

I would suspect four things...

1. Running too low of rpm..
2. Dirty filter
3. Bad flow switch..
4. Something got into your skimmer line

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Thanks Jim. I’m seeing considerable air forming inside my pump lid now on what seems like a daily basis. Whereas it hasn’t happened before or until recently. Cleaned my cartridge filter 3-4 months ago at worst.

Just took off my pump lid, cleaned skimmer basket and re-seated and applied lube to lid o-ring. Checked water level is normal and skimmer weirs are functional. No air trapped in filter itself. Though I’ve never really felt my return jets, I will say they are each functioning and at equal strength to touch. Starting out this evening with very small bubbles in lid, less than size of a quarter max.

Dropped my pump back to 1200 RPM. Same RPM I’ve run for last year during routine run times. Closed the flow switch as expected. Will see whether I wake tomorrow to low flow and more air visible within pump.

I’ve not checked the unions on each side of my IntelliChlor SWCG. Though I seem to recall only one of the ends having an o-ring?

Will post back in morning.
 
Apologies - at 1200 RPM, my FlowVis shows about 20-25 GPM. Perhaps I might as well just clean my filter out again this weekend as a troubleshooting measure?

I suppose having too clean water never hurt anyone either [emoji28]
 
Miles,

If your cell were missing one of the union O-Rings I'm pretty sure you would know it by the flood... :p Beside that is on the pressure side and would not cause a suction air leak.

What is your filter pressure at 1200 rpm???

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
You know the Intellichlor manual says that 25 GPM is the minimum flow rate to generate chlorine.. I suspect the Flow Switch has a pretty wide tolerance...

I would just crank it up to 1300 rpm...

I like the idea of a clean filter so you know where you are starting from...

Jim R.

- - - Updated - - -

My pressure is also about 2 psi at 1200... I suspect you have less flow at that speed because of your heater.

Jim R.
 

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Thanks Jim R. Just increased VSP to 1300 RPM and pump pressure remained constant.

Last year I played around w RPM until I landed on 1200 RPM being the lowest energy consumption that effectively activated the flow switch on the IntelliChlor.

Also, I’ve become accustomed to going weeks or even months without ever seeing bubbles form with a corresponding flow switch error. I’m more concerned about the air in plumbing than flow switch since water is just now avg above 65F which the IC is no longer viewing as too cold.
 
Miles,

I too find the air in your pump an issue... it will change a little depending on speed, but it should not be half air and half water.. If it continues to happen you will have to start looking for a suction side air leak..

Jim R.
 
my system will do that to a lesser degree also with a lot of low RPM and pool use. I think mine was small amounts of air that occur from pool vac, skimmer, and minute leaks around other o rings that the pump doesn't clear out of its filter basket. With no pool use, the air was much less. Turning up the rpm's a little or setting a higher rpm for a couple minutes to purge the air fixed my issue. I was accumulating air in my filter housing also from this and higher rpm (2800-3100) for just a couple minutes cleared it up. I went the long way and rebuilt all the back flow valves, replaced o rings in jandy valves etc which helped but issues was similar, not quite half air, but similar and just turning up the rpm for a couple minutes cleared it up.
 
As of noon today, am noticing the air in pump lid gradually building despite increasing RPM +100 (to 1300 RPM) and resealing the pump lid. No apparent leaks, but clearly a suction-side leak somewhere as this should be happening and wasn’t an issue entire last pool season.
 
Cleaned cartridge filter and checked and re-sealed filter and pump lid o-rings. Running pump at 1200 RPM now with virtually no air in pump lid. If there’s air visible by morning, I’ll definitely try the hose test. There shouldn’t be any air now.
 
Did the hose test on equipment pad. No leaks detected.

When I crank RPM up to 2750 for my heat pump, all bubbles disappear. And now that I’ve restored by summer pump schedule with a series of higher speed, intermittent cleaning cycles (2000 rpm), the air bubbles appear much less. Would seem a constant 1200 rpm pump speed simply is too low?
 
The most common cause of this in my experience has been a leak in the prefilter basket lid. It's easy to pinch that o-ring when putting the lid back on.


Regardless of where the air is leaking in from, my guess is that at higher RPMs, the air is getting forced on through the pump and back out the returns. But at low speed, it's not getting stirred up enough in the prefilter basket for this to happen.
 

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