Low Flow all of a sudden, even with filters removed???

[MyCaliPool]

Hi friends. My water flow has been cut in half recently. I can see it on my waterfall from spa and the skimmer isn't working well.

1. I cleaned the 4 cartridge filters but no improvement. So I removed the filters completely to test if they were the issue and NO improvement. With no filters it is 15 PSI and with filters it is 15 PSI. Normally it is 13 PSI with clean filters. The VSP pump basket is clean.

2. I have a mastertemp 420 heater and solar roof heater. I have both turned off (disabled in the settings).

3. When I turn off the electric auto valve near the filter and heater (see video) the flows gets a little better and the skimmer sucks more. I don't know what this valve does though.....

4. How can I troubleshoot my reduced water flow issue? With no filters and still low flow it has to be something other than filters ya? Is the Mastertemp 420 heater restricting my flow or anything else?

Video of my issue is here:

 

[Jimrahbe]

My,

Videos don't help me much as they don't focus on one thing long enough to study it..

Show us several pics of your equipment pad so we can see the entire water path.. and all the valves.

One thing you could try is to feel the pump's impeller and make sure there is nothing caught in there.. Obviously with the pump off.

In the video your water level looked extremely low.. I doubt that is the problem, but it would not hurt to add some water..

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[PoolStored]

Given the video, after you flip the switch/valve, you opened the heater and turned off the solar. The gate is opposite of the handle on the valve. Said another way, the handle is showing you where the water is going.

You have a restriction in your solar.

 

[MyCaliPool]

Thanks guys. I topped off the water. I could not find any debris in pump impeller. I replaced the shaft seal on it 3 years ago. The pump is 9 years old. The filters I cleaned last night again and they look in good shape. Cartridge filters are prob 5-6 years old.

The VS pump is programmed to 2300 RPM for normal pool mode. It has been this way for 10 years and has worked well. But, this week it has not been enough to keep the water flow flowing like normal and more importantly the skimmer working. I bumped it up to 2,500 RPM today and everything looks more normal but the skimmer is really really weak still. Just not sure why I lost 200 RPM in efficiency???

Photos attached of my plumbing. I don't understand the area after it leaves the filter and goes into the auto valve. It looks like one one side (A) it routes water to the heater>chrlorine gen> pool. The (B) side looks like it shuts off the heater route and goes direct to a pipe that "may" be the solar on my roof? But even when it heads there the chlorine gen is still getting water flow so that auto valve must not be shutting off the opposing heater side.

Nothing has changed on this pool to cause the issue (lower flow) from my side. I haven't touched anything other then clean the filters last month. The only thing I noticed is there is an air intake pipe for the spa bubbles. And there were some leaves close to it. So maybe some leaves go inside that pipe. Not sure where it leads. I added a mesh screen once I saw the leaves. Builder didn't have one on it.

This is the pool in Solar Mode



This is the pool with solar mode turned off

 

[Jimrahbe]

My,

Thanks for the pics, I'll look at them in a minute..

Did you by any chance use any type of Floc or clarifier in your pool recently???

As a test, I suggest that you run your filter with the cartridges removed and see how well the water flows...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[MyCaliPool]

Thanks Jim. No, nothing has been added to the pool.

I ran the pool last night with the filters removed. I see no change in filter pressure and no increase in flow (with the cartridges removed). It looks like I have a very similar systems as yours. I've turned off solar heating to isolate that. Doesn't make it flow any better with normal pool mode running.

My friend said maybe my pool pump impeller is slipping or the pump is failing after 9 years. But it purrs nicely and it moves a lot of water whenever I activate waterfall mode at 3100 RPM, etc.

 

[strategy400]

I had pine needles stuck in my impeller and got almost zero flow. But you said you already checked.

 

[Jimrahbe]

My,

Here is a diagram of a typical solar pool heater system which is what you have,


Your salt cell should get flow whether solar is on or off..

Logic says that you have a little more resistance to water flow, and that is why you need to increase your pump speed. This is almost always due to a dirty filter. But, since you just cleaned your cartridges, it could be the cartridges are bad or maybe a corroded heater issue or ???

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Jimrahbe]

My,

Other places to look..

Check valve before the cell..

The salt cell itself..

Dirty or bad Return valve.

Dirty or bad Intake valve

As other have pointed .. something stuck in the pump's impeller.

200 RPM is not a major difference, so not sure it is even worth the effort to look..

If you find what it is, please let us know, and we can add it to our list...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[MyCaliPool]

Thanks for all the help friends. I figured it out!!

I had a solar panel replaced a month ago. The worker must have switched one of the auto valves from 2 (good) to 1 (bad). So for the last month whenever the Solar was running it actually was not. And vice versa.

So when Pool Mode activates and runs at 2300 RPM it is sending water to the panels and restricts the flow, pressure bumped up and the skimmer basket stopped working effectively. When the Solar Mode was ON it closed off the Solar panels, ran at 2800 RPM and thus everything appeared good or better than normal.

So lesson learned, check the water flow, trace everything and verify the auto valve switches didn't get messed with after a worker touched it. I probably spent 8hrs troubleshooting this when it was merely the flip of a switch. I wasn't familiar with what those switches did until now. I've never touched them and since we don't have a pool person, they never get touched. I appreciate all the help on here. It gave me the motivation and confidence to keep working on it.

 

[MyCaliPool]

I mapped the water flow out and added plastic labels to all the pipes for future reference.