Spa Jets no longer bubbling

Do those tiny bubbles in the pump basket ever go away? It looks like you might still have a small leak. Leaving the pump off for awhile may expose that.

Do you have a pressure gauge you can install in the pressure side drain plug (1/4") and see what the pump pressure is?
I think I did this correctly?

 
The pressure seems a little low.

Just to confirm, pump was at full speed?

Jets installed or removed?

Not sure what the pressure should be, but I went and got a different gauge that is 100psi instead of 200psi so we can see the pressure in a better scale.

Pump is full speed at 100%

Here is a video of the pump at 100% with no jets installed:

Here is a video of the pump at 100% with all 8 jets installed (but fully "open")

For fun (or not fun) here is a video of only ONE jet working -- they all used to blow bubbles harder than this.
 
So just to understand, one jets looks like the last video but the rest have very little flow rate?

Also, can you post a picture of the dedicated pump plumbing?
 
Hi again.

Attached are a couple photos of the jet system. It is the pump on the left. You can see the blower up against the house.

Regarding the jets. Last night when I took the video, one jet was blowing bubbles as you saw in the video. All other jets still have water flowing out of them, but no bubbles.

Unfortunately today, when I went to take these pictures, I turned the pump on, an there were no bubbles from any jet. Still had water flow, however.

You are awesome by the way!
 

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The pressure indicates flow rate going to the jets.

When you put your hand in front of a jet return, does it feel weak or strong?

The blower is running when the jets are installed correct?
 
The pressure indicates flow rate going to the jets.

When you put your hand in front of a jet return, does it feel weak or strong?

The blower is running when the jets are installed correct?

When I put my hand in front of the jets, they all are blowing a fair amount of water. I would say it is comparable to the actual filtration return jets. Maybe slightly less when I get further from the pump.

The blower is not running. This is what I perceive as wrong with the system. For 2 years now, I have never had to use the blower. Now all of a sudden, the only way I can get bubbles is by using the blower. The blower is loud and annoying. In fact, its almost annoying with the amount of bubbles it produces in the pool.

I have always had two options. Gentle massage jets, with air bubbles produced with pump only, and the blower when I want to make it look like a boiling cauldron.
 
If you run the blower with the jets, do all the jets perform properly?

If so, then run the blower for a minute or so and then shut it off a see if the jets will continue to run properly without the blower. The main purpose of the blower is to initially clear the lines of water. After that, the venturis should be able to take over.

Lastly, remove the blower from the air pipe and see if the venturis clear the line by themselves. If not, you may still need the blower.
 
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Here is a current video of running the jets with just the pump only.

When running the blower, they do perform what I believe to be properly

Shortly after turning the blower off:

This video, I turned the blower on. Turned it off and removed it from the air pipe and wedged the air check valve open to allow air in the pipe

In any video with the blower off, and the jets functioning, is what I am used to, except on every jet.

I feel like we are close to cracking the case!
 
It looks like the venturis will work on their own as long as the air pipe is clear. Can you remove the check valve easily?
 

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Another thought. The pump pressure stills seems a little on the low side for that size pump. I am wondering if there might be something stuck in the impeller. It might be worth pulling the motor/impeller from the wet end to check.
 
Aircheck is glued to the pipe. So no, I can't remove it.

How would I go about pulling the motor/impeller off? Is there a YouTube video you can point me to?


Separate questions.
-I have read somewhere about draining the pool below the level of the jets and getting all of the water out. Would that reset the jets by any chance? I dont really want to waste that much water.
-I also feel like the little bubbles we see in the pump lid currently, could be some form of cavitation? I may not have any idea what I am talking about, but like I said, I have seen it before when I had something restricting flow on the filter side pump. In which case, could something be blocking it downstream thats causing issues?
 
Aircheck is glued to the pipe. So no, I can't remove it.

How would I go about pulling the motor/impeller off? Is there a YouTube video you can point me to?
You just remove a series of bolts, one of which is shown below. Then after that, separate the two halves. However don't remove the motor bolts.

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Separate questions.
-I have read somewhere about draining the pool below the level of the jets and getting all of the water out. Would that reset the jets by any chance? I dont really want to waste that much water.
Once you fill up the spa, water will just go back into the air line.

-I also feel like the little bubbles we see in the pump lid currently, could be some form of cavitation? I may not have any idea what I am talking about, but like I said, I have seen it before when I had something restricting flow on the filter side pump. In which case, could something be blocking it downstream thats causing issues?
Air bubbles in the pump lid are air leaks, not cavitation. You cannot see impeller cavitation in a residential pool pump.

The air bubbles could be an indication of a suction side restriction. Since you had an issue with the check valve on the suction side of the pump, are you sure that has been cleared out so there is not restriction on that side? That will also reduce flow rate and make the venturis less effective.
 
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From what I can see, the impeller looks fine. Nothing that sticks out to me... You?

I will keep searching. I can't find anything that is restricting it as of right now. I think these lines are pretty straight forward. The water for the jets is drawn from a drain in the low side of the pool. Unless perhaps something has been sucked down into that? I have a 15' borescope I am going to try to shove places to see if I can see anything... I dont know how successful I will be....
 

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The place that it would get stuck would be in-between the impeller vanes where it is narrow. Hard to see that area in the pictures.
 
Ah, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary looking over the entire impeller.

So after putting the motor/pump back together, it seems like things may have returned back to normal (or close to normal.) I don't want to be so confident yet. I will continue testing.

The one thing I noticed was when I was pulling the pump apart to inspect the impeller, a few of the bolts were loose, or came loose with very little effort. When I put it back together, I made sure everything was tight. Could that play a role in the symptoms I have been experiencing?

As close to normal that it has been since starting this thread.
 
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