Suction side leak . . . Found in Pump Drain Plugs

[TomC]

Hi guys. Since the pool was opened a week or so ago, I have been getting air in my filter. I release the air once or twice a day. The pump basket has no air in it. I've cleaned that whole assembly and lightly lubed the gasket.

When the guys opened the pool, the pump was extremely loud, which was caused by a loose drain plug. I discovered this from another thread on the pool forum. Is there a second drain plug? I've viewed shcematics of my pump, and it's not clear from the diagram if there is more than one drain plug on the pump. I'm laid up in bed with a bad back right now, so I can't check for myself. Thanks for any help.

Tom

[TomC]

Okay, so I found the second drain plug on the pump, right near the first one. I tightened it up, it went about a half of a turn. Do you think that was enough to cause the air problem in my filter? Guess I'll find out soon enough.

Tom

[Watermom]

Please report back and let us know if that solved it. Posting feedback helps future members who may have the same type of problem.

[TomC]

Okay, so I went out to the filter this morning and bled air for about 10 seconds, so tightening up that second drain plug didn't seem to help. I saw another member mention something about shaving cream as a diagnostic aid. Can anyone tell me how to use this technique? Because we've had so much rain lately, I didn't check the o-rings on the drain plugs, guess I'll do that this weekend.

Tom

[BigDave]

If you spread shaving cream on places where you suspect suction leaks, you can see if it gets sucked in to the joint.

[TomC]

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a go. Should I just put it on the pipe unions, or between the wet end and the dry end of the pump too?

Tom

[BigDave]

I don't think i'd put it on or near the shaft and seals. I was thinking strainer basket lid, threaded connections, plugs...

[LisaM]

I recently used this to find a suction side leak that plagued me for 7 years.... Start with each joint or in my case it turned out to be an o-ring on the cap on the manifold that I use to blow out the pipes for the winter.. was totally rotted. I started with each joint and put shaving cream all around it. Watch and when you hear the pump suck air see if you can see any bubbles in the shaving cream. It clearly sucked in the shaving cream when it sucked in the air. Worked great!!! 7 years I couldnt find that stupid leak.... Of course I never even thought to look at that stupid o-ring before!!!! Good luck!!!!

[PoolDoc]

That's an interesting technique! I think that would have worked on some of the leaks I've hunted!

[TomC]

Problem solved. I tried the shaving cream detection technique, and found out that my air leak was coming from both of the drain plugs on the pump. When I unscrewed them, only one had a gasket, the other had a small amount of dried up plumbers tape. So I went to the local pool store and bought 2 new gaskets, which looked very different from the one existing gasket, both in color and shape. I've had the new gaskets in place for about 7 hours and have no air in the filter. Thanks for all the help.

Tom