Great job Rob! I find the majority or air leaks are at the pump lid O-ring. It is either worn, placed on improperly or has debris around it keeping it from getting a good seal. That is the first thing I check. 👊
Best way I find to do the bubbles check is take a water bottle and take a sip. Then pour a bunch of dish soap and shake it. If you keep the bottle upright and squeeze it you get a nice stream of bubbles. When your low on bubbles just sake it up again.
The sure way to find an air leak is to put the system under water pressure. Simply take a HydraFlush (for blowing obstructions out with water), attach it to a garden hose, and push water from the skimmer or the vac port toward the equipment. You do this with the system off. Wherever you see water leaking on your suction side, is exactly where your air leak is.
This method is amazing! I have been trying to trouble shoot air bubbles for days. In 30 seconds i knew exactly where the suction side air leak was and fixed it!
excuse me for my ignorance. what is HyraFlush? googling it did not help. i like this concept and i want to try it but i need a right tool to connect garden hose to skimmer and vac port. thank you for sharing this idea.
@@steviewonder275 It’s also called a drain jet. It’s a garden hose attachment that is basically a bladder that blows up when the hose on. It forces water to only go one way.
I got a tip from a pool company as I had a leak on the suction side. I shut off the filter while watching the system - it causes a reaction where water leaks out. Sure enough one of my inlet valves spit a little water each time I shut off the pump. Replaced the o-rings and back in business.
Excellent. I just learned something about valves. I didn’t think to check! Update!!! Changing the gasket worked, my pump filter rose 3” near to the top. Awesome!!
Thank you for the tips! This helped me identify a leak in the o-rings on one of my valves that was letting air into the system. Was an easy $10 fix for my system!
@@Inyopools I’ve tried all these methods and still have air in my return lines. Any other suggestions? Underground Lines have been pressure tested as well very weird. Thank you for your help.
Can u use the bubble technique or shaving technique if the valve u suspect is coming from the valve on the return side?! It’s drilling water and not sure if it’s the coupler where the valve is attached or from the orings in the 3 way valve…
We just got a pool installed and did my first vacuum today and cleaned the skimmer basket and the pump basket. I turned the inlet valve open to skimmer only while vacuuming and all was good until I went to clean the basket. I forgot to shut off the valve and left the skimmer valve open, which drained the pump basket. Upon starting the pump back up, I could not open the skimmer valve without having a large volume of bubbles. If I opened only the main drain valve no bubbles were found. So I knew it had something to do with the skimmer inlet. I even added a little more water to the pool thinking the skimmer was not getting enough water, yet it worked earlier?? Well along that thought, I partially opened the skimmer valve and checked the skimmer...the water level was very low! Now for the lesson of the day learned...opened the weir door...TADA! So if you know you don't have any leaks and you're still getting bubbles in your pump basket, be sure the weir door to the skimmer is opened! This is a helpful video, I like the water method the best!
Hello. Just saw your video...4 years late. 😂 I had a new filter system installed from a sand filter. 2 weeks after install I've got bubbles from the furthest (weakest) jet out in the pool. Installer says lid or o ring on pump are bad (bought all brand new to check and still have bubbles), or it's pipes between pool and pump/filter. How and what else can I check? No issues until after the new install, but pool is near 50 years old as well.
My filter wouldn't fully prime and lots of bubbles were in the return streams. I tried replacing & lubing the filter pod o ring and soaping up everything on the suction side looking for leaks, but nothing helped. Finally I tried cleaning out my (cartridge) filters and voila! back to a full prime.
My question is about patching leaks. I have patched a spot or two in my pump housing but I suspect there are others that I cannot see or get to because the pump is mounted up against a wall. What do you say to the idea of just spraying down the entire thing with Flex Seal in order to patch cracks in the housing?
I have high psi, clean filter, low to no suction. I put a hose to the pump skimmer basket to the suction hole, I felt good pressure coming out of my skimmer hole by pool. I get build up of air in my filter, my skimmer lid gets blown up when turning off the pump. I have a frozen drain valve, it's cold right now, I haven't jumped in water i don't know if it's on or off. I had a slight air leak on a pipe by the skimmer pump basket, I tried sealing it, but it didn't work, though there is less air leak, but still same problems with low suction, I can't vacuum my pool.
All is good with my pump until I hook up my automatic vacuum . It's fine for few minutes, then I get air bubbles in filter basket. Can you please help? Does air being in system hurt anything?
Replaced the pump and now see some air in the basket. The new pump didn’t align 100%, needed to raise up the motor end of pump to lower the basket end to align with diverter in pipe. I did lube the o-ring at the fitting and used Teflon tape on fitting threads but it was not a easy connection. It did tighten but it was a fight. I took out pump basket lid and lubed o-ring but still have the issue. Could this be the cause of the air in the pump basket ?
It could be. But that is purely a guess. There are a lot of seams, gaskets, and o-rings on the suction side of a pump. So the only way to find the leak is to go looking for the leak. If you have adjusted/corrected an area of plumbing and the issue persists, you need to move down the line and start troubleshooting elsewhere.
Thanks for the info. I tried these methods but still lose prime after an hour or so. If I backwash a little, I get the prime back. Could this be my filter element (de)?
hi i wanna ask... so i got into a trouble when vacuuming my pool. i can only vacuum my swimming pool from only 1 point of the pool, and it is 10 meters length, so i can only reach 5 meters. (my pool has a clear polycarbonate roof, so only few percentage of sun penetrate and no leaves/debris ) my question is , with my semi indoor pool, do i need vacuuming? or brushing is already enough since there are no debris/leaves? (i plan to brush the pool while swimming)(i think brushing is enough bcs after brushing, the algae/biofilm will be sucked by the filter and killed by the chlorine) and in your video you said it's best to run the filter 12 hours a day. what is the best time pattern to run the filter? is it 6 hours on 6 hours off . or 2 hours on and 2 hours off.
Nice video, some good tips, my question is, I do have some air bubbles through the return jets, but my bigger concern is that when the pump starts up in the morning, there is quite a bit of air that bubbles and gurgles from the return jets for about 30-45 seconds, I'm suspicious of a water leak somewhere in the system, Any ideas? Thank you
@@Artseventy6 I didn't do a test. I got bubbles from the return at every startup. Almost instant. I suspected. Pulled both thread fittings off and taped them with Blue Monster tape and drove them all the way in. The fittings are IPS scale and have a taper. But I think the filter head and the chlorinator bodies are just straight thread so you have to drive them in all the way. Haven't had any bubbles since.
We have a guide on the topic. Take a look to see if it is something you feel comfortable with. How To Replace Diverter Valve O-rings - www.inyopools.com/HowToPage/how-to-replace-diverter-valve-o-rings.aspx
I'd start with cleaning the filter. If the pressure doesn't drop, you may need to replace the filter media. This is assuming that the HP on your pump wasn't increased and that this is a newer problem.
I definitely missed that in this take. We mention that in all our "how to" guides about suction side air leaks. This is what I get for doing it off the top of my head.
Correct. What happens after you stop drinking through a straw? The liquid goes back down to the cup. Why is that? The vacuum within the straw breaks when you stop drinking, then the air rushes in, purging the straw of liquid. If the system is sealed except for one little spot, where will that air enter? Water can't leak through the same hole air is surging through.
If you have isolated the location of the leak, run the pump and have it suck quick drying glue (primer first and then glue). It will close small leaks (may need a few tries but usually quite effective). If that doesn't work or you have a significant area of leak especially around fittings, you will need to replace the fittings. In any case, try this method first.
@@carskum5217 Had a spa suction line fitting leaking water from glued joint, as fitting was below spa water level. I ran pump to stop leak and create vacuum on fitting and used clear primer and pvc glue daubed all around leaky joint. I did it twice and I let spa pump run for a half hour and stopped pump and leak was stopped. It has been five years and still holding up.
If you can't find the air leak using these methods, the next step would be pressure testing the lines. Here is a good video on pressure testing pool lines. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sVp62kt_Nic.html
If you mark water level with a pencil at the same time each day you will find out where the leaks level is by the decrease in water level loss at that point. Usually around the skimmer plaster to plastic joint leaking by. Fix it with some pool putty.
Question for you. I don't have air in my pump, it seems like it is coming in after the filter. My pump is up hill from the pool. I am getting air coming out of my jets, but I am pretty sure it is not being drawn into the pump as there is no air in it or in my filter. I will try the methods you suggest, I am just confused why it isn't dripping on the pressurized side, but drawing air in.
With pump primed and running shut off and look at seal and pipes before pump ...water will drip instantly from leak for a few seconds. Hydroflush works well too.
Agreed. There's a lot that could go wrong with a setup like that, and trust us, a lot did, lol. Regarding pool plumbing, we prefer the "Keep It Simple" method.
