Pump Problems

[PoolDoc]

I'm not sure at all, what you are hearing. Normally, if you have a transparent pump lid, and don't see air, it's EITHER completely full of water (no air) or completely empty (no water). So, I'm not at all sure the noise you hear is air.

I've explained a common piping problem that MIGHT be your problem below -- but this is just ONE possibility, among many.

Your best bet is to take photos and send them to poolforum AT gmail DOT com, and let me post them. Several people here could help you, and with photos, we could do more than just guess.

It sounds like you've got pump system noise, that stops when you restrict the flow enough. But, that's not air. If you've got enough flow, and have Jandy valves installed in the common and idiotic "butt-head tee" arrangement, the noise may simply be high flow + bad piping.

I'll explain.

Tee's can be oriented several ways in piping. A "branch tee" is a hydraulically acceptable way to split a branch OFF, or to combine two flows. BUT, the smaller flow should ideally be on the branch side, like this:



Another way to split flows is the "bullhead tee" arrangement, where the main flow comes in the branch and exits through the two opposed sides, like this:

This not good, and is hydraulically inefficient (lots of pressure loss!), but it's acceptable at lower flow rates.

What is NOT acceptable, is the "train-wreck tee" layout:



This layout is so bad, that there are not any published pressure drops for this arrangement. Presumably, the guys who make those tables and charts assume that if you know enough to use a pressure loss chart, you know enough. If you've got that layout AND high flow, you noise could be one of the trainwreck tees.

Here are some real world examples:




The picture above is interesting, because the Jandy valve on the LEFT is in "train-wreck" configuration, but the one on the right is in "bullhead" configuration.


And, this one is actually NOT a tee, but an ell, since EITHER the spa OR the pool operates. The valve is currently in pool mode, with the spa closed off.