Low water at pump

[Bikerndiver]

I just had a new above ground 18 x 40 x 54 pool installed. The pool is filled to its correct capacity. I'm using a 2 speed 1.5 hp pump and a Hayward Pro Series sand filter. Here is my problem:

+ After running the pump on LOW for an hour (+ or -), the strainer basket just before the pump is virtually empty of water....

+ If I run the pump on HI, the strainer basket is empty of water in a minute or two. The skimmer opening is still full of water.....

+If I remove the skimmer basket up at the skimmer opening, everything works fine on either Hi or Low speed.....

Is my basket at the skimmer not letting enough water through???? What do i do about that????
Thanks!!!

[BigDave]

Is the skimmer sucking air in? I keep a good size (a little smaller than my fist) rock in the skimmer basket to break up the vortex.

[Bikerndiver]

No, the skimmer never runs out of water or sucks air.

I only run out of water at the basket near the pump. There are no leaks anywhere between the skimmer and the pump. As I said above, if i take the basket out of my skimmer, everything works normally with the pump on either Hi or Low....

[djKoch55]

I was having the same issue. I realize that my impeller locking screw had loosened and backed out. You may need to replace that or tighten it up.

[PoolDoc]

Sounds like you may have 2 problems:

1. Somehow, your skimmer basket is obstructing the flow. This shouldn't happen if it's (a) clean and (b) the right basket, so I don't know how it's occurring.

2. If you are getting air in the pump basket, you have a suction leak. Period. If you didn't have a leak, you wouldn't have air. But if you have a SMALL leak, it won't show up on a flooded suction pump (below water level) UNLESS something obstructs the flow upstream of the leak location.

The most common locations for a suction leak are the pump strainer lid gasket, and the point where the piping is connected to the pump. BUT a suction leak can be *anywhere* between the pool and the pump.

[Bikerndiver]

OK, I think I have a solution. The skimmer at the pool is brand new, it came with the new pool that was installed 2 weeks ago. There are absolutely NO leaks between the pool and the pump. As I posted above, everything is fine when the basket is removed from the pool skimmer.... So, I put a plastic spacer under the skimmer basket that was about 1/4 inch thick....a tiny bit of improvement, but not great. Then, I brought the spacer up to a half inch thick.... Much better, but still not 100%.... So I increased the spacer to 3/4" and PERFECT!!! So, now with the skimmer basket in place, I have plenty of water in the basket of the pump...no air and everything works "normally" on either high or low speed. The culprit was the skimmer basket itself. The skimmer basket has VERY fine holes in the bottom... When the skimmer basket is seated all the way down, it only lets water flow through the holes in the bottom, NOT through the holes in the sides..... When I raise the basket up by 3/4 of an inch, water flows through all the holes in the basket and water flow is perfect! Hopes this helps someone else.....

[BigDave]

Sounds like they gave you the wrong skimmer basket. In mine, there's plenty of room for the water to flow through the sides. I'd ask the vendor to at least verify, hopefully correct. Is some of the water bypassing the basket now that you've put in spacers?

[PoolDoc]

Dave is correct: either you have the wrong basket, or it's VERY bad design. I'm guessing you have the wrong basket.

Oops. One other possibility: baskets are held in place by ledges or protruding steps. If whatever SHOULD have held your basket elevated above the outlet is damaged, that could also cause your problems.