Kreepy Krauly Collecting Air

Hello everyone.

I have within the last year bought a house and my first pool.

It didnt take long to figure out how beneficial an automatic pool cleaner would be, so we ended up purchasing a Kreepy Krauly and leaf trap.

Everything was working well until the leaf trap started collecting air, floating and then spilling air into the pump where it would build up and cause the pump to be noisy and inefficient.

In trying to determine where the leak was I submerged each joint of the hose and could not pin point anything.

Next step was submerging the entire system (I would empty the leaf canister of air in between all of these checks). Even with the entire system submerged air would still build up in the leaf canister....I know this sounds crazy, but please stick with me.

I didnt believe this myself and took each hose apart and put a thin couple passes of electrical tape around it to ensure a tight fit and it was still building air in the leaf canister if left to float, and when fully submerged.

When I removed the kreepy krauly and put my regular vacuum head and pole on the same hose with leaf trap, there is no air buildup. So it is something mechanically in the kreepy krauly or in the pulsation of the system since the regular vacuum is steady suction.

Contacted Pentair 1800# and they referred me to a local pool repair company. After I talked to Pentair, I could tell she thought I was crazy, so I went home to double check all of my tests and while doing them I had noticed bubbles coming out of the top (just above where the plastic bulb connects to the two tubes) of the kreepy krauly when fully submerged and the pump running, so I wasnt crazy. Anyways, the guy came out while I was at work and looked at everything and then left me a voicemail that said "The operation of the kreepy krauly is sucking air in through the hose connections and this is normal operation after it is a couple months old. Your pump is fine running with air in it. There are no issues".

If this is the correct diagnosis, then I do not want a kreepy krauly.

If this is not the correct diagnosis, then I will continue to try getting a second opinion.

The only other thing is that there is some small debris in my regulator valve that I cannot get out, but the functionality of the valve seems unrestricted.

I apologize for the lengthy description, but I wanted to give as much information as possible so that everyone knows what is going on.

Anyways, found this place by swimming through pool chemical jargon and deciding to try the BBB method which has worked great and has been so simple. First time pool owner so I'm sure this forum will help me out enormously in the future.

Thanks guys.