Losing pressure

[PoolStored]

Do you know what the two input pipes to the pump come from?

Open this valve, so the handle is parallel to the pipe, you may be starving the pump.


Take a closer picture of this.



Stand in the same position as the second picture, move 45 degrees to your right and take another picture so I can see all the suction side piping going into the pump.

 

[Grayman43]

I will turn the valve. Not sure about what you mean in the other picture there’s nothing to the right.

 

[PoolStored]

Move your body 45 degrees to the right and the camera 45 degrees to your left. I want to see all the input side to the pump.

 

[Grayman43]

By the way, thanks for all your help.

 

[Grayman43]

Move your body 45 degrees to the right and the camera 45 degrees to your left. I want to see all the input side to the pump.

Got ya

 

[proavia]

With all of the unions and low quality ball valves, you have a good possibility for multiple points of entry for a suction side air leak.

 

[PoolStored]

With all of the unions and low quality ball valves, you have a good possibility for multiple points of entry for a suction side air leak.

I agree, let's see what happens with the valve move and see how many and where on the suction side with more pics.

 

[Grayman43]

Change the valve to parallel. It seemed to help just a little bit. Still air in the pump basket. Here is the picture you requested.

 

[PoolStored]

I still can't figure out the metal valve on the left...why put in a metal valve...there should be no metal to pvc connections in a pool.

With the valve moved, does it still lose prime?

 

[Grayman43]

With all of the unions and low quality ball valves, you have a good possibility for multiple points of entry for a suction side air leak.

Any tricks on trying to find out which one might be the culprit

 

[PoolStored]

With the pump running, take a garden hose and flood each joint. If the pump stops pulling air, that is your joint.
You can also try shaving cream.
You can also try saran wrap.

 

[Grayman43]

I still can't figure out the metal valve on the left...why put in a metal valve...there should be no metal to pvc connections in a pool.

With the valve moved, does it still lose prime?

I tried to turn that metal valve that it wouldn’t move. So strange. I didn’t put pool in so no clue what it is

 

[Grayman43]

With the pump running, take a garden hose and flood each joint. If the pump stops pulling air, that is your joint.
You can also try shaving cream.
You can also try saran wrap.

Just to be clear what you’re saying. Go to every joint one by one and just flood it with water. How long should I do each joint for? If I did the shaving green, would I just put it at ever joint from pump back to pipes? If I did the shaving cream, would I be looking for something bubbling?

 

[PoolStored]

Just to be clear what you’re saying. Go to every joint one by one and just flood it with water.

5-15 seconds, maybe a bit more, usually works pretty quickly.

How long should I do each joint for?

See above

If I did the shaving green, would I just put it at ever joint from pump back to pipes? If I did the shaving cream, would I be looking for something bubbling?

Yes. The pump will suck it in.

 

[Grayman43]

5-15 seconds, maybe a bit more, usually works pretty quickly.

See above

Yes. The pump will suck it in.

Can you answer one more question kinda related? I’m doing the slam and I am at a point where water is blue and cloudy. My flow out of jets goes down very fast. The pressue gauge is not much higher than normal. I backwash and the water is not real bad out of the pipe. I’m probably having to backwash every 6 hours because the jets lose water. This normally does not happen. Could the air be effecting that too? The reason I ask is I haven’t made much progress on the water clarity the last two days. Made very fast initial progress that I’ve slowed to a crawl. Thanks for your help and I hope this makes sense.

 

[proavia]

What RPM are you running your VS pump at?

Does your sand filter have a push/push backwash valve or a multiport backwash valve?

• Backwash your filter until the backwash water runs clear (or relatively clear since you are in a SLAM and the water is still cloudy)
• Place backwash valve back in filter position
• Run pump at 3000 or higher RPM
• Note filter pressure
• When filter pressure rises 20%-25% above clean pressure at the same RPM (3000 or higher), it's time to backwash again

While in the SLAM, filter pressure can rise quickly and you will need to backwash more often.

The air shouldn't be affecting the need to backwash.

Take a double dose of P.O.P (Pool Owner Patience).
It took some time for your pool to get to the point of needing to SLAM.
It will take some time for you to complete the SLAM as well. A sand filter probably takes the longest to clear a pool.

 

[Grayman43]

Thanks. Will march on and update. I really appreciate all the help