Suction side leak . . . Found in Pump Drain Plugs

[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