Sudden Pressure Drop

[waste]

Problem Solved!

So it turns out that the problem was with the impeller. I took out the basket and reached down into the pump and there was tons of leaves and things that were lodged into the impeller. I used a screwdriver to loosen everything up and it all came out. I replaced the cracked basket with a new one and the pressure is back up to its normal 15psi.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. I was very close to calling someone out to take a look at it. It only took 5 minutes to fix and probably would have cost me $100 or more if I called a pool guy.

cmc, glad you solved the problem! (BTW - when I give advice here, you have called the pool dude - I just can't come to your backyard, but on the other hand - I'm not gonna send you a bill )

 

[tagprod]

I'm now the proud new owner of a drain king. For 13.49 at my local Ace store - not a bad investment. I started this morning with a PSI of 10. After doing the obvious stuff, cleaning baskets and such - I was going to look at the impeller. That was going to take a little bit more work to get to on a Northstar 2.0 HP pump, so I thought I would put it back together before proceeding with seperating the two pieces of the pump and trying the drain king. I don't know why but the PSI junped up by 6 just from taking it apart and putting it back together I put the drain king in the suction side plumbing. I have two skimmers so I had to go cover up one piece of pipe to force water to the other one. I got another 2 PSI after that. I was able to get the gauge to show 19 PSI after all was said and done. The pressure of water coming through the returns is noticeably improved.