Filter won’t Prime!

[Lchimney]

Hey everyone ,
So for days now I can’t seem to get my filter to prime. I feel like I have tried absolutely everything.
What happens is I turn the filter on it blows bubbles into the pool and then nothing. So one good gust and that’s it. Also the skimmer basket/ carriage of the pump isn’t full or looks half full. I have tried sticking the hose it to fill it up with no luck. I am working on all the firings now but can someone tell me what side of the filter might be causing this? I replaced the filters O-ring. (Although it still leaks a bit)

Another side note is at the end of summer last year I was cleaning the pool and draining it to waste when all of a sudden the filter lost prime. Out of frustration we closed it for the winter. I haven’t had any suction coming from the filter since.

Please help!

Thanks!

 

[Texas Splash]

Welcome! Normally something like this points to a suction side air leak (letting air into the system) or perhaps a blockage. Based on what you said about last season's vacuuming, I have a feeling something is still in there. Have you tried pushing water backwards? Stick a garden hose into the pump "inlet" and push water backwards to the pool. See if you can get water moving that way first and perhaps dislodge something from before. There are pressure bladders available for this as well (i.e. Drain King).

 

[Lchimney]

Hey Texas Splash!

Thanks for the reply! We took it apart to see the propeller inside the pump. That was very clean! We even plugged it in to see if it spinned okay. Everything seemed in check! I also put bumbles on all of the fittings before the pump nothing seems to be sucking in. The filter body’s lid is leaking a little can that affect it?

 

[Texas Splash]

The filter body’s lid is leaking a little can that affect it?

That shoould have no effect on the prime. Can you post a pic of your equipment though? I'm curious to see what you have there and how it's set-up.

 

[Texas Splash]

Going back to my note above, the garden hose test would be pushing water away from the pump backwards into the suction line towards the poolside skimmer. If something got wedged in there last winter at closing, it could still be there or take a bit of effort to get out.