Suction Side Air Leak

[Hockeyrules192003]

Hello,

I’m really just looking for a sanity check. We just filled our pool after having it resurfaced with pebble sheen. Due to the recent extreme cold we’ve had in Texas my pool sat empty for about a month. After filling and getting the chemicals set up I noticed that the returns were pushing small bubbles out.

Having my pool empty for empty for that long I am paranoid that something shifted in the plumbing underground and cause a leak. However I think I ruled this out by using valve in front of the pump. When shutting off either the skimmers or the main drain once the pump primes it immediately starts gathering air bubbles.
So am I correct in assuming it’s after either the main drain and skimmer plumbing?

I’ve cleaned off the pump lid o ring and re lubed. I’ve cleaned, re-lubed, and tightened the inlet junction on the pump. Re lubed the drain plugs. Really the only thing left is the jandy valve.

Is my logic sound? I’ll be changing the o rings on the jandy valve as soon as I can regardless because they probably need it anyway.

Thanks!

 

[HermanTX]

You can try the water test before you tear anything apart.
Suction Side Leak Testing

 

[Hockeyrules192003]

Thanks. I should have mentioned I tried that and it’s not a quick enough air leak that I can tell just from running water over it. I ended up using some barbasol and covering the valve and upon priming it held without air for quite a while before some started coming. I didn’t see anything being sucked in but it was a definite change from yesterday. I’ll be changing out the o rings. Thanks.

 

[Dirk]

If the bubbles form under the pump lid when the valve is in either the skimmer or the drain position, then that mostly rules out all the plumbing between the valve and the pool (unless there are leaks in more than one pipe, which is not impossible but not likely). So that leaves from the valve to the pump. You're on the right track. Valve o-rings next. I think they sell kits for that.