Air bubbles in pump strainer pot

[james0873]

Hey everyone, I'm sure this question has been asked before so please forgive me in advance. I'm getting alot of air bubbles in my pump housing stainer pot, the pump can run for hours and they never go away, I wouldn't be to concerned with it except there is alot of air in the pot. Does this mean it's pulling air from somewhere before the pump, maybe a fitting or something. It hasn't been to long since i changed the pump...I have a 25,000 gallon in ground pool, vinyl liner, 1.5 h.p. pump, sand filter....Thanks in advance for the answer....James....

[Watermom]

Have you tried cleaning and greasing the o-ring? (Use only pool lubricant, not vaseline.) Hopefully someone else will be by who may have other ideas to help you.

Welcome to the Pool Forum!

[PoolDoc]

What WaterMom is getting at, is that bubbles in the strainer side usually mean a suction side leak. And two of the most common locations are at the lid O-ring, or at the fitting connecting the suction side piping to the pump.

If you post pictures (Webshots, Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, what?) of the pump and piping, you might get other suggestions.

[james0873]

yes, I have greased the oring with majic lube i bought from a pool store, Is there a kool way to check the fittings for air being sucked in, none of the fittings are leaking water, whether the pump is on or off..Also thanks ya'll for the suggestions.......James...Also I'll try and post pics tomorrow when it's light out...

[PoolDoc]

you can goop Magic Lube on the thread, and see if it gets sucked into the pump.

Other things to check for:
=> skimmer weir stuck or vortexing . . . and sucking air
=> loose valve on suction line. (WHERE it would be loose, depends on the valve type.)

[hotajax]

What WaterMom is getting at, is that bubbles in the strainer side usually mean a suction side leak. And two of the most common locations are at the lid O-ring, or at the fitting connecting the suction side piping to the pump.

If you post pictures (Webshots, Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, what?) of the pump and piping, you might get other suggestions.

This might be partially true, but there are more causes than those two. I have a Hayward setup, and the pump housing cracked. There was water underneath the motor. One of the ways to find it is to turn the motor on and off repeatedly. When you shut it off, it will leak.

[PoolDoc]

There are many, many reasons why suction leaks can occur. That's one reason they are often so hard to find.