Low suction and return pressure

[mlphillips42]

Hello I'm going to start with that this is my first year opening my pool myself. Everything was going great, until I set the mutliport valve to Filter and I forgot to put the plug in the sand filter. Needless to say the water dropped below the skimmer but was still coming out of the filter hole that had not been plugged. Now I have low pressure from the pump. There are air bubbles coming out of the return. I cleaned out the impeller by hand, not sure if anything else is clogging it. My pump cover doesn't have an o-ring and seems to be sealed properly. I can't seem to find an air leak. The only thing I can think is the pump is going bad that it was being run with water below the skimmer. It slowly fills with water then whooshes it away where you can hear when the water goes. It isn't moving fluid. Any help would be great. I have a Hayward Super Pump.

Thanks,

 

[zea3]

Did you fill the pool back up? You have introduced air into the system and it will need to be bled out. Make sure the water level is at least half way up the skimmer opening, open the air bleeder on the filter if it has one, and run the pump. If you don't have an air bleeder then the air in the system will have to come out the returns, so the water may sputter for a bit. Make sure the pump basket fills completely and no more air is in the system before shutting off the pool.
Your pump pot lid should have an o-ring.

 

[mlphillips42]

Thank you for the reply, turns out it was heavy debris lodged in my suction pipe. Had to use an air compressor to get it back out. All is running good again!