Madwil - "when you say pump is hot, do you mean the pump housing, or the motor?" Answer: The metal part so the motor is what seems to be getting hot.

Carl - I can not bypass the filter without replumbing it. As for the WAG, since I can't easily bypass the filter I was thinking about increasing the size of the filter to handle the load, I was thinking something that would handle at least 75GPM since that is what is stamped on the skimmer,.... I did take the filter apart and did the acid wash etc this spring. Everything looked ok. It's in service now and working just fine as far as I can tell. The pressure in the tank when it's totally clean, NO DE, is 13 LBS pressure. After adding the DE it goes to about 15ish.... I don't let the pressure get above 22. So maybe there is a flow restrictor in the input of the filter. The manual says one is supplied but since I didn't plumb the filter I don't know whats in there.... Bottom line, I think the pressure in the filter is low enough that it's not going to blow up or anything. (If I'm wrong yell at me.... ) However, the more I read, the more I believe the filter size needs to be increased.

Mark - The only time I get air in the pump basket is when I vacuum. When I attach the vac hose the pump couldn't draw enough H2O and just struggled. It had a high pitch whine and then the basket lost prime. To solve this problem I drilled a 1/8 " hole in the vacuum plate. Started the pump, and attached the hose. I repeated this, each time making the hole larger, until the H2O flow could keep up with the pump.

Yes I am trying to equalize the flow. I have "massage" jets that the water just trickles out of. Not much of a massage. :-) I have also been playing around with 2 valves in the pipe manifold (returns) I am able to increase the flow to the massage jets, but that causes the pressure in the filter to go up about 4lbs. So I keep that valve open 100%.

Anyway, the more I think about it.. the more I believe that I need to reduce the size of that pump and increase the size of the filter.... I'd rather spend that money on beer with the neighbors, but....