Lots of air at pump intake strainer.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Greetings gents. I just returned home from a week abroad. Much to my chagrin, my pool was a mess and the filter was not running.

1. Tree ship had made it past the skimmer basket and the filter basket. I backwashed and a ton of it came out.

2. The strainer at the pump has a ton of air in it. Say, the top two inches or so. It's constantly filled with swirling air. It works its way into the Hayward fliter and I have to bleed it out at the top.

What is the easiest way to find the source?

3. Water is leaking out from the inlet fitting on the pump. The previous owner placed super-goop all over it, so it must have leaked in the past. Does the first piece attached to pump housing thread in or is it simply a compression type fitting? It looks like I will have to diasssemble it to repair it. Since this inlet is under suction, could its leak be the source of the air?

Many thanks. I have a few other problems, but this appears to be the most pressing.

Have a great spring and many thanks for your help.

 

[Arizonarob]

Jeff, watch this video.

https://youtu.be/eweIDTnJCUw

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

Thanks!

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

It's either the gasket under the pump lid (the clear one over the pump basket) or the lid itself. I found two small areas on the lid which are worn. It almost looks as though the lid was damaged at some point. I will lightly dress them with sandpaper and replace the gasket. It should be here tomorrow.

Leslie wants 60 for the lid and 15 for the gasket. I ended up paying quite a bit less on AMZN. If my handywork on the lid doesn't fix it, I'll go back for a new lid.

 

[Arizonarob]

Don’t forget to lube up that gasket when you replace it.

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

I replaced the gasket and it wasn't the fix. It helped a bit, but I have an air leak somewhere around the pump intake fitting.

Unfortunately, its already covered with silicone as the previous owner tried to fix it. It's been fine for the 5 years I've owned it, so I suppose I ought to give hi some credit.

In addition, I have just developed a leak on the high-pressure side of the pump and water is coming out of (more silicone) around the outlet fitting on the pump.

So, it looks like I need to replace/reseal the two pump fittings. This is a Hayward SP260 type pump.

My questions are,

1. Are these fittings threaded into the pump housing? I read the pdf, and that appears to be the case.
2. Are these fittings then simply glued with PVC cement to the plumbing?
3. It looks as though there are no gaskets, and that thread tape and compression fittings seal it up.
4. It looks as though the pump fitting is threaded in first, and then everything else is simply attached with PVC tube and cement. Is that correct?


I'll likely have to rip out the majority of the plumbing since everything there is very short run and there is no decent place to tap into it. The Hayward pdf has very little regarding plumbing the pump. I'll search this site in the meantime.

 

[Arizonarob]

Yup, that’s pretty much what you’re going to have to do. Snap up some pics of your equipment pad setup, and post them. That way everyone can chime in to give you some tips.

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

I was able to repair the intake leak. I isolated the source by using the hose technique. Many thanks for that video. The supply line had 500 pounds of old silicone around its perimeter so that gave my my first indication of a source. I ripped all of it off and applied a thin coat of new silicone, then immediately turned on the pump. I figured that suction would pull the viscous silicone IN and seal the deal. It took three thin coats, 30 mins apart but I got it. Thanks for all your help.

Now I need to fix the pressure side leak and the leaky gasket on the DE filter.