Help - No or Low flow from pump

[Trick]

My saltwater generator has been saying low flow often. I cleaned the filter yesterday. I came out this morning, it says low flow and I feel little water coming out the return. I take things apart and keep turning the pump off and on looking for maybe something clogged, this didn't go too great cause it seemed like whatever I took off, when I turned the pump on it was a burst of pressure at 1st then the pressure would drop.

My pump/motor is an AquaPro APF100Pro. I think the pump prop must be worn out or wasted in some way and not creating the pressure it once had.

I probably broke it cause I know in the past I forgot to open a valve or 2 and it ran for a significant amount of time with water not being able to flow.

What do you guys think and is there anything I can do to test or confirm this?

edit. its not any clogged baskets, cause I have main drains as well and everything is open.

 

[Richard320]

If you have to empty the pump basket often, say after vacuuming, there's a chance that pine needles or fine twigs have slipped through the basket mesh and clogged the impeller. Then everything sounds the same, the pump is full of water, but there's hardly any flow and hardly any pressure on the filter gauge.

 

[Trick]

Would it sound different if the impeller clogged or fail? Cause it sounds the same to me.

 

[Richard320]

Would it sound different if the impeller clogged or fail? Cause it sounds the same to me.

....Then everything sounds the same, the pump is full of water, but there's hardly any flow and hardly any pressure on the filter gauge.

 

[Trick]

I just separated the pump from the motor and to my untrained eye everything looks ok.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfN77xG-GJU )



I must be missing something, and something has to be blocked. This is an AGP so it can't be much. I hope its nothing to do with my heat pump. Any other ideas?

 

[Trick]

I had a chance to mess with this. It seems as if my filter cartridge was clogged. I say this because I'm running it without the filter and it seems to be running fine.

Pressure gauge is suppose to go up but it didn't, I think its been broke since new maybe. The gauge goes to 60max and it barely shows any pressure on low speed, if i was to guess a reading its a 4psi and on high speed its running 15psi.

Looks like I have 2 problems a poor reading pressure gauge and a very dirty filter. (Which the filter, in 3 years I have only hosed it off twice a season, so this is probably my fault.)