low to no pressure....help

[mom of 6]

I have an intex above ground pool.

I am using a hayward pump and sand filter. I have little to no pressure. I have replaced the sand in my filter and completely cleaned it out, I have primed the pump, I have made sure there are no clogs anywhere.

I have even hooked up a different pump and filter to the pool and I continue to have the same problem. I can not figure out what this could possibly be. the pr filter assembly does not fill completely up with water, and there seems to be surges in the pressure, where it will work great for a minute or two then the pressure slowly fades till it is not sucking anything into the skimmer.

My pressure gauge constantly reads zero,it does not move and this is the case with both filters I have had hooked up. I have backwashed and all the obvious things I could think of.

[PoolDoc]

The fact that you have no flow with 2 different pumps suggests that there's some sort of obstruction in the inlet, the outlet or the piping.

[Pappy]

Without being able to see your system, I'm guessing here. But maybe this will help.

Since you've changed out the pump, there are 2 possible causes. A blockage after the pump, and before the filter would cause low flow and low pressure gauge readings. It is VERY unlikely that this situation exist in both units you tried. Blockage after the filter and before the pool will cause high readings on the pressure gauge. Is it at zero with the pump off? If not, replace it. Make absolutely certain all your valves are in the correct position, the ones that need to be off are ALL THE WAY off, and the ones that need on are ALL THE WAY on.

If your gauge is at zero with the pump off, you, most likely, either have a blockage between the skimmer and the pump, or you have a BIG leak between the skimmer and pump that is sucking air into the pump. If you had a leak, you'd probably see it when the pump is off and you would be getting lots of bubbles in the water that's coming back into the pool. If something between the skimmer and pump is dripping when the pump is off, fix it. If there is still a problem, read on.

If you can, TEMPORARILY reverse the plumbing so that water is going from the pool inlet to the pump, and then from the filter outlet to the skimmer. This will either push the what ever is blocking flow into the skimmer or give you a high pressure reading on your gauge.

If you can't reverse the flow, turn the valves off and disconnect the pump from your plumbing. Put a water hose in the plumbing that goes to the skimmer and stuff some rags around it tightly. Turn on the valve in that side of the plumbing and turn on the water hose. If the hose blows out of the plumbing, you have a restriction in the pump intake plumbing.