Moved into a new house with a pool in July of last year. Thus far, I have been very disappointed in the half-assed work done by the previous owner... but there is too much material for just one thread
Current issue:
I filled the pool over the weekend {https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/131593-A-Whole-Series-of-Problems-(and-a-bunch-of-questions} and fired up the pump. The good news is that the leak is fixed... the bad news is that it is not pulling enough water through the skimmer inlet.
If I shut down the butterfly valve for the skimmer intake, the water continues to flow but the pressure drops (as expected) because it is still pulling water through the drain at the bottom of the pool.
However, if I shut down the butterfly valve for the drain, and leave the valve open for the skimmer, I lose suction. It will pull some water, but not much.
I have also noticed that sometimes it is pulling more water through the skimmer than other times. This can be observed both by the pressure at the pump and by the physical movement of water at the skimmer.
What I've tried:
I took out the drain plug out of the pump strainer and hooked up my air compressor. I thought I could blow out any debris that could be stuck in the line. It blew a bunch of bubbles in the strainer and spit out a few leaves, but nothing that would be large enough to suggest an intermittent blockage.
I've also made my garden hose fit tight into the hole in the skimmer box and flushed water through the line. Water pours out into the pump strainer, but no signs of anything flushing out.
What I think I'll try next:
Drain the pool back under the skimmer again and repeat the air compressor exercise to empty the line of water... then hook up the shop vac at the skimmer box and see if I can suck out anything.
If that doesn't yield any results, I guess I'm going to have to tear out all of the above ground plumbing at the pump.
My question:
Before I spend too much more time and energy in another exercise in futility - are there any suggestions? Anything else I should check or do?
My theory is that there is something stuck in the line that is just big enough to not pass through some point in the plumbing (checkvalve maybe).
Thanks for any recommendations or advice.
Current issue:
I filled the pool over the weekend {https://www.troublefreepool.com/threads/131593-A-Whole-Series-of-Problems-(and-a-bunch-of-questions} and fired up the pump. The good news is that the leak is fixed... the bad news is that it is not pulling enough water through the skimmer inlet.
If I shut down the butterfly valve for the skimmer intake, the water continues to flow but the pressure drops (as expected) because it is still pulling water through the drain at the bottom of the pool.
However, if I shut down the butterfly valve for the drain, and leave the valve open for the skimmer, I lose suction. It will pull some water, but not much.
I have also noticed that sometimes it is pulling more water through the skimmer than other times. This can be observed both by the pressure at the pump and by the physical movement of water at the skimmer.
What I've tried:
I took out the drain plug out of the pump strainer and hooked up my air compressor. I thought I could blow out any debris that could be stuck in the line. It blew a bunch of bubbles in the strainer and spit out a few leaves, but nothing that would be large enough to suggest an intermittent blockage.
I've also made my garden hose fit tight into the hole in the skimmer box and flushed water through the line. Water pours out into the pump strainer, but no signs of anything flushing out.
What I think I'll try next:
Drain the pool back under the skimmer again and repeat the air compressor exercise to empty the line of water... then hook up the shop vac at the skimmer box and see if I can suck out anything.
If that doesn't yield any results, I guess I'm going to have to tear out all of the above ground plumbing at the pump.
My question:
Before I spend too much more time and energy in another exercise in futility - are there any suggestions? Anything else I should check or do?
My theory is that there is something stuck in the line that is just big enough to not pass through some point in the plumbing (checkvalve maybe).
Thanks for any recommendations or advice.