I noticed recently that when my filter is turned off, after a few hours the water level drops about 3 inches in my pump strainer basket. While there is still water in the pump strainer, it is not completely full touching the clear strainer cap like it used to. This causes air bubbles for 1-2 minutes out the return lines when the filtered is turned on. I’ve replaced the strainer basket o ring, and both o rings on the manual air relief assembly which I thought would fix it, but no luck. The water level is more than enough in the pool so that is not the issue either. I am the 2nd owner of the house and the cartridge filter, along with manual air assembly appears to be the original (20 years old). My next thought is to replace the entire manual air relief assembly. Any thoughts on what might be causing this air leak and the water level to lower in the strainer basket? I’ll post a picture of my current equipment.
Air Leak - Water level lowering in Pump Strainer
- Thread starter colin313
- Start date
Does the pump basket after priming fill completely and without any bubbles? If so you may have a slight air leak via the pump lid or even in the union on the suction side of the pump. You can make sure the lid has no debris on the gasket mating surfaces and use a liberal amount of gasket lube. The same may be for the union as it too has a gasket which you can get to by loosening the union nut and put some lube there too.
Not an issue. Eventally this happens to most pools. It is draining back to the pool because somewhere a little air is allowed back into the system. Think putting your finger on a straw. Water can't drop out until air can get in the other end.
I would suspect that chlorinator first, which should be removed for the sake of the heater.
I would suspect that chlorinator first, which should be removed for the sake of the heater.
Yes the pool pump does fill completely after priming. I will try lubing up gasket again although I am hesitant about loosening the Union nut as I don’t want to potentially cause a bigger problem / leak. I also saw your advice on another thread to use silicone sealant around the piping to the pump too. Do you think it’s possible I could have an air leak in the red circled part on the picture attached and to use sealant there? Thanks for the advice!
Attachments
Last edited:
When the pump turns on, it takes about 10 seconds for the water to start flowing thru the basket strainer from the suction lines. Can’t this potentially burn out the pool pump overtime if it does this day over day since the pump strainer isn’t full prior to the pump starting?
As long as there's water in the pump basket that's enough to keep it cool while priming as per design then it just fills and goes on its merry way.
If water leaks out from there when the pump is running then air can enter when it is not running.
Now I’m noticing when I turn on the pump, after about 20 seconds of running when the water starts to flow thru the pump to filter and pressure gauge increases, water starts to leak out of the top of the manual air assembly for a little then stops. I’ve already replaced both o rings however it’s the top cap of the assembly that’s leaking. Should I just buy a new manual air assembly and hopefully that might be the problem I’m having with the air leak?
