Hello there,

I had a new Hayward 3400VSP pump installed yesterday to replace a 5 year old 1.5hp hayward and it keeps getting stuck priming during Autoprime mode. It happens wether the pump chamber is full of water or if it is not completly full. If the chamber is not full of water it doesn't prime/fill completely and then also gets stuck in autoprime mode. I first checked the lid and gaskets for good seal and did a quick above ground leak check and came up empty. After further investigation this seems to be happening when the solar valve is open to the system. If I close the solar, and power up the pump or change speeds, it stays in prime mode for approx 30seconds, primes completly and then operates at set speed. I can then reopen solar and it functions fine. Since the solar valve comes off the filter on the pressure side, I don't understand how it being open can affect the pump priming? The solar is being automatically controlled by my Goldline system via temperature of the pool and the new pump is on its own timer. The old pump was on "filter" function on the controller so I have that timer set to turn on at the same time as the new pump (when it goes to 2750rpm to run the vac) so that the solar will sense temp/run and the chlorinator will run at that time also. So should I just set the solar/cholrinator timer to come on after the pump comes on/changes speeds and turn off before the pump does to ensure the valve is always closed when the pump starts or changes speed? Or is there a problem with the pump? Also, how many rpm do you think I need to run the pump at for optimal solar function? It seems that the higher the rpm the warmer the water is coming out the returns. Right now at 2750 the water coming into the pool is definitely not as warm as the temp sensor is telling me the water coming off the roof is. Running at 2750 is the pump just not able to push enough water up?