Hello. I'm having trouble getting water suction to prime the pump. It's a Hayward superpump with a DE filter. I first noticed cloudy water, so I did a shock and backwashed and added new DE. I also noticed small airbubbles coming from the jets. When I turned off the pump I could not get it to prime, it would instantly suck everything out of the pump basket but no water was sucking in. So I assumed it was a clog or air leak. I tried unclogging the skimmer line to no avail, manually primed it etc. with no luck. I eventually got it to prime by sticking a garden hose down the skimmer line and blocking the pressure back to the pool. But it was still blowing bubbles and wouldn't prime again when I turned the pump back on. Finally I called a pool tech who checked the pump and confirmed it's running fine. We then went through the air pressure test and did loose some pressure. There are 3 lines from the suction side, I'm assuming one for each skimmer and one for the main drain. Only one line has a valve. When I questioned the valve the tech closed it and we mannually primed and the pump turned on with no air bubbles. I believe this line to be the main drain? We then did an air pressure test and the 2 skimmers bubbled like crazy but a very small trickle came out the main drain and then eventually stopped all together. I'm now thinking this is either a clogged main drain or a leak on the main drain line above water level. Any thoughts on how to diagnose and fix? Should I plug up the skimmer lines and do an air pressure test on the main drain? With no valves on the 2 skimmer lines to the pump, do I need to mannually plug them? Is there a way to tell if it's a clogged main drain or an air leak?
No suction to prime pump
- 68 Views
- Last Post 06 July 2019
BethanyS
posted this
06 July 2019
- Last edited 06 July 2019