I proposed this question last year and looked for an exposed leak through recommended methods and didn't locate anything. I would love some additional input on potential causes of this. Here is what I know.
1. I opened up the pool for the season and ran it off the main drain only because the water level was not yet up to skimmers. For 20 minutes it filled the pump reservoir and ran fine. Then it started hitting a point where it was starving for water and kept having to prime itself. Now, rarely can I get it to run properly for minutes at at a time. It is almost always starving and priming when running on the main drain only. See video link below.
2. When the water level reached the skimmers, I left both valves all the way open and the reservoir stayed completely full for multiple days. This tells me that there isn't an air leak in the main drain because the problem does not occur when both valves are open. It is water deprivation problem not an air introduction problem.
3. The issue is that most of the water is likely being pulled from the skimmers and it is delaying my water getting cleared up for the season. I want to run it primarily on the main drain. And, in the first years of my pool ownership I was able to do this. This is an issue that has showed up in the last year or so.
What could be causing the pump to starve for water when running on main drain only? I have a drain cover on the main drain. The only thing I can come up with is that there is something intermittently blocking the flow of water. Perhaps a piece of concrete broke off under the drain cover and is blocking the inlet? Any ideas pool pros?
Here is a video of what is occurring. Thank you very much for the assistance.
Main Drain Starving Pump - YouTube
1. I opened up the pool for the season and ran it off the main drain only because the water level was not yet up to skimmers. For 20 minutes it filled the pump reservoir and ran fine. Then it started hitting a point where it was starving for water and kept having to prime itself. Now, rarely can I get it to run properly for minutes at at a time. It is almost always starving and priming when running on the main drain only. See video link below.
2. When the water level reached the skimmers, I left both valves all the way open and the reservoir stayed completely full for multiple days. This tells me that there isn't an air leak in the main drain because the problem does not occur when both valves are open. It is water deprivation problem not an air introduction problem.
3. The issue is that most of the water is likely being pulled from the skimmers and it is delaying my water getting cleared up for the season. I want to run it primarily on the main drain. And, in the first years of my pool ownership I was able to do this. This is an issue that has showed up in the last year or so.
What could be causing the pump to starve for water when running on main drain only? I have a drain cover on the main drain. The only thing I can come up with is that there is something intermittently blocking the flow of water. Perhaps a piece of concrete broke off under the drain cover and is blocking the inlet? Any ideas pool pros?
Here is a video of what is occurring. Thank you very much for the assistance.
Main Drain Starving Pump - YouTube
