Low Water Pressure

[ppollard]

I had my pool opened yesterday. I have an in-ground pool: vinyl liner, 1 skimmer, 1 main drain, 5 return jets, sand filter and a waterfall water feature. After the pool was opened, in a few hours the water pressure dropped. The fountain was on at the beginning. It will typically increase my water pressure when it's off so I turned the fountain off. The pressure increases some for an hour or so but then started decreasing again. I backwashed to see if that would help. It seemed to for about 5 hours and then I tried to turn the water feature back on and lost pressure. I immediately turned the water feature off but the pressure stayed low. I cleaned out the pump basket a couple times. It did look like some air was getting into the pump but would eventually get rid of it only to occasionally come back. I also noticed the skimmer wasnt pulling anything in but I think the valve may be closed(pic included). The far left valve is my water feature. Then I believe the next from the left is the return and two on the right are main drain and skimmer but would appreciate confirmation on that and any ideas for next steps. Thanks!

 

[ppollard]

Additional notes: the water level is good, halfway up skimmer opening. There was always water coming from the return jets. On one occasion I put a brush in to try and brush off anything from main drain (water is green so can't see the bottom), the water pressure immediately dropped. Could there be something interfering with main drain? I'm running my Polaris 9550 a bunch to try and pick up leaves and worms and it gets full every time.

 

[mknauss]

What was the filter pressure? It sounds like your pool is algae filled and you are plugging your filter and thus the flow rate is dropping.

 

[ppollard]

Average psi is 15 or so. It was dropping to as low as 5.

 

[mknauss]

If the filter pressure drops, then the suction side is getting plugged. Check your skimmer strainer and your pump basket. They need to be kept clean. The majority of your suction flow should come through the skimmer.

 

[ppollard]

I think my skimmer valve may be turned off though. I could tell it wasn't pulling anything. It was all coming from main drain. In the pic I posted, the two valves are in opposite directions so I'm assuming main is on and skimmer is off. But I wasn't 100% confident in that.

 

[mknauss]

Turn them both on.

 

[ppollard]

Does the pic look like that's the case? I didn't want to turn them and the valves not be what I think they are and mess something up.

 

[mknauss]

You have basic ball valves. Turn them both so the handle is in line with flow line. That means they are open.

 

[ppollard]

Thank you. I turned them both open, cleared out the pump basket again and turned the pump on. Once it primed the pressure is around 17. The skimmer is pulling in water now. I'll keep an eye on it all day today to see how the pressure fluctuates. One other thing I've noticed is that around the filter top where the screws connect in the pic, once it fully primes there is a few seconds of water leak but then it seems to stop on it's own. Not sure if that's concerning or not.

 

[mknauss]

You do not want any kind of leak but that is an issue for another day.

Now you need to read about the SLAM Process. You need your own proper test kit for that. What test kit do you have? Please fill out your signature.

 

[ppollard]

Filled out my signature. I have a Pentair Rainbow kit.

 

[mknauss]

Thank you.

You need a proper test kit, see Test Kits Compared. I suggest the TF100. A proper test kit is needed to get the accurate water chemistry results needed to follow the TFP protocols.