Broken pressure gauge?

[caper]

Hi,
I opened my pool this year after winter (my 6th year doing this) and the pressure gauge on the sand filter seems abnormally low. Usually, at normal operation it is at 12-14 psi....its reading at about 4-6 psi. However, there is plenty of pressure at the jets and water seems to be cycling through the system with no problem. Although I did have a little trouble this year getting the pump to prime, seemed like there as an airlock in the line, so I added water to that line to get the pool to prime. Running fine now.

So, I am thinking the gauge is broken since I do have lots of pressure at the jets, but the needle does move back to 0 when the pool is off, which is why I'm not sure.

 

[Richard320]

Low pressure can be caused by a restriction is the intake plumbing, all the way up to the impeller. It can also be caused by a big air leak, but I think you;d have already seen bubble or tried bleeding air. Or it can be a bad gauge.
Do you have pine trees around the pool? Pine needles are the worst about slipping through the baskets and clogging the impeller. Picture an electric far with tape stretched between the blades. It spins good, but it doesn't move air. A clogged pump is like that.

Kill the power to the pump and see if you can't poke around in the impeller How To Clean Out a Pool Pump Impeller - INYOPools.com
If your pool is under a cover, then that's unlikely a cause. How about filling out your sighnature so we know what we're dealing with? What we like to see is listed here

 

[caper]

Hi, thanks. I'll check the impeller when i get home. What is throwing me off is that there is lots of pressure at the jets and no sign of air bubbles coming from them. I assumed that if there was an issue with low pressure, then there would be no water pressure at the jets.

 

[JamesW]

Maybe just replace it if you're not sure that it's accurate.

 

[LFrankow]

If the needle doesn't return to zero the guage is "sprung", replace.

 

[caper]

Low pressure can be caused by a restriction is the intake plumbing, all the way up to the impeller. It can also be caused by a big air leak, but I think you;d have already seen bubble or tried bleeding air. Or it can be a bad gauge.
Do you have pine trees around the pool? Pine needles are the worst about slipping through the baskets and clogging the impeller. Picture an electric far with tape stretched between the blades. It spins good, but it doesn't move air. A clogged pump is like that.

Kill the power to the pump and see if you can't poke around in the impeller How To Clean Out a Pool Pump Impeller - INYOPools.com
If your pool is under a cover, then that's unlikely a cause. How about filling out your sighnature so we know what we're dealing with? What we like to see is listed here

Impeller is fine, but I do have a small leak at the pump. I purchased the seal kit and have yet to put it in.

Is it possible to have the pressure at the sand filter reading so low, but still having lots of pressure at the jets?

 

[Richard320]

Is it possible to have the pressure at the sand filter reading so low, but still having lots of pressure at the jets?

Sure If the filter was empty you'd have low pressure and high flow. That's pretty unlikely since you didn;t empty it.

Since you checked the impeller, that leads us to the next step which is a new gauge.

 

[Chuckiechan]

I’d buy a new gauge first. BTW, get one within the pressure range on your pool. Mine is 0 to 30.