Priming a pump above the pool

[grichard]

I have a pool company open and close my pool, so I don't have direct experience with that process. Recently I came back from a trip to find my system gunked up with pollen, catkins, and stuff. In the process of de-gunking, my system lost its prime. Getting things restarted was *really* hard. Is there a trick I don't know?

My pool is about 3 ft below my equipment, with a horizontal run of about 120 feet. Two skimmers plus a main drain. I tried several rounds of the following:
--Close returns, skimmers, main drain
--Open pump trap and fill with water from a hose
--Seal pump trap
--Open return line
--Turn on pump
--Quickly open one skimmer line

When I did this, the water I'd added got sucked into the pump well enough, but I didn't manage to get the system started. I did several sequential rounds (being careful to close the skimmer line before opening the pump trap) without success.

Eventually I got the system started with a real Rube Goldberg deal: I tightly jammed my vacuum hose into a skimmer port beside the pool, stuck the other end of the hose atop an extension ladder, and stuck a garden hose on full blast into that. This pushed enough water through that skimmer line that I could keep the pump running, and slowly suck the air out of the other skimmer line.

Surely there's a better way??

 

[ajw22]

It sounds to me like you may have a bit of a suction side air leak that is defeating the pump priming.

Or you are not being patient enough to let the skimmer pipe get pressurized with suction and slowly suck the air and water through. You don't want to let a pump run dry for too long while trying to prime. So with a 120' run your hack may be the best way.

Do you see any air bubbles coming out of your returns indicating a suction side air leak?

 

[grichard]

Well, I sure did have a suction leak the first time, when I left the O-ring off of the pump basket cover.

Otherwise, no, I don't see bubbles I don't, but that makes sense as a place to look.

I understand that this is a vague question, but how long is too long for a pump to run dry while priming? I have no sense. Ten seconds? A minute? Five minutes?

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

I understand that this is a vague question, but how long is too long for a pump to run dry while priming? I have no sense. Ten seconds? A minute? Five minutes?

Thanks!

More like 3-5 minutes for a 120' run. Pumps that have a priming shutoff have a default setting of like 11 minutes and can be set up to 30 minutes.

@mas985 thoughts?