Pump randomly momentarily activates and immediately deactivates. It “whoomps”. Phantom events?

[Rocker4444]

I don’t really know how to describe this. 2yr old equipment. Jandy VS pump. IAqualink automation. Everything runs and stops according to schedule.
You know the normal “whoomp” or “wromp” sound the pump relay makes when the pump gets activated but before the pump starts? Like a power surge or inrush of power? I am hearing that sound come from my equipment randomly.
I’ve usually noticed it between 1 and 3 times sometime between 9-11pm, hours after all equipment except lights are off. It doesn’t happen regularly or at any specific time. When it happens nothing seems to start, move, etc. Just the “whoomp” surge noise followed by nothing else.

What is it!?? Is my automation momentarily turning on and off the pump faster than the pump can engage? Is the relay momentarily closing and re-opening without the automation telling it to? Is it not the pump at all (maybe the lights??)?

It’s driving me nuts because I can’t run outside fast enough when I hear it and I can’t predict when it will happen to narrow down more specifically where the sound is coming from.

Help!!

 

[MSchutzer]

The sound you are hearing might be air gulping in the filter much like the sound a water cooler makes when you take water out of it.

On most pools you have a loop of water in the filter and above ground pipes even after the pump turns off. If you have a small leak anywhere in that loop water will leak out when the pump is on. When the pump turns off water stays in the filter and pipes, but any leak in the system allows air to be drawn into the pipes as gravity pulls the water back to the pool.

As the air leaks into the pipes it will occasionally gulp through the filter as the water in the filter drains back to the pool.

In systems with solar heating a non sealing check valve can cause this also.

The faster the rate of the gulping the bigger the leak. It doesn’t take much of a leak to cause this to happen.

I would guess you might be hearing air gulping through the filter based on the way you are describing the sound.

Do you have any water dripping from any equipment or pipes when the pump is on? Is the air release valve on the top of the filter tight, check the pump strainer lid, filter seal, Jandy valve handle stems, and anywhere else water might leak.

While the air gulping can sound annoying it’s not harmful other than indicating that you have a small leak in the system somewhere.

I hope this helps.

 

[Rocker4444]

Thanks for the very detailed reply! I’m pretty sure the sound is electrical. It’s exactly the same sound I hear if I open my Aqualink app and turn on the pump and then immediately turn it off half a second later.
I will double-check for water leaks though just to be sure.

 

[MSchutzer]

Try turning off all the system breakers one night and see if the sound goes away. That will test your suspicion that its related to something electrical, or not.

 

[MSchutzer]

Another idea, I know it's been cold (for California) with this recent storm, how is your freeze protection set up. Is there any chance that your air temp sensor is getting below the freeze protection temp setting causing something to activate? Maybe the temp is getting cold enough to just bounce around the activation temp causing the pump to turn on and off quickly? You might look at the freeze protection temp setting, you may want to bump that down a few degrees (I think 34 is the minimum) to see if that might be the cause. In LA you really shouldn't ever get cold long enough to have to worry about freeze protection.

 

[JamesW]

You know the normal “whoomp” or “wromp” sound the pump relay makes when the pump gets activated but before the pump starts?

There is no "Normal" "Whoomp" sound.

Can you post a video of what you are talking about?

It might be the Aquarite transformer, which can make a sound like you describe.

Why do you have a Hayward Aquarite with Jandy Automation?

 

[Rocker4444]

Good ideas there. The problem with these kind of irregular issues is that turning off the breaker and NOT hearing anything doesn’t prove anything. But if I turn off the breaker and DO hear something then that would be telling. I’ll try that for a few nights in a row.

I thought I had turned off freeze protection because it kicked on a few times last winter. I double-checked and see it can’t be turned off but it was indeed set to 34. If I hear the noise again I’ll quickly see what the outside temp reading is. I don’t think this is the issue though because I recall hearing the noise around 9am last weekend and it definitely wasn’t near 34.

Jandy and Aquarite… because pool builders suck. Everything I have is Jandy except the SWG so I don’t get any SWG automation. I have to go turn the stupid dial and flip the SuperChlorinate switch all the time during the summer. The Aquarite isn’t powered unless the pool pump gets power so it can’t be the Aquarite on its own but if they both get power for some unknown reason then it might lead to the “normal” “whoomp” sound. I’ll try to get a video/sound when it’s not pouring rain.