Pump not holding prime

[AnnaK]

I wore my trusty purple latex gloves and brought along a bottle of Goo Gone, just in case.

Haven't filled the pot back up yet, it's too $#@! cold out there for me to want to play in water. We'll see if it holds tomorrow. It won't hurt the pool to not have water circulating for 24 hours. Heck, another couple degrees and a person could skate on it.

[CarlD]

Let's all hope it work.

"Think it'll woik?" The Wife
"It'd take a miracle" Miracle Max.

[AnnaK]

Update:

This morning I put the plug back in after having wrapped it with Teflon tape and filled the pot by opening the valve to the skimmer. Closed the valve, put the lid on. I did not turn on the pump. The pot should now be a sealed system, right? If it drains down again I would be looking for a leak around the pot, wouldn't I?

I'll give it some hours.

[Poconos]

Maybe. On an AG with the pump and filter below the skimmer and return openings you can get backflow from the return, back through the filter, then to the pump so closing just the skimmer valve shouldn't really stop anything. I'd leave the valve(s) open and just look for a dribble.
Gonna go mow...rain approaching sooner than expected.
Al

[AnnaK]

I have the valve to the return closed as well.

Right now the cinder block pad the pump sits on is wet from the pot overflowing. I wouldn't be able to really tell a leak in the pot or its immediate fittings unless there is, as you say, a dribble. And what with the rain coming this plumbing leak detection event may have to be on hold for a few days.

What I do know is there's no evidence of water at any of the valves or connections to/from the pool nor any visible leaks in the pump fittings.

[CarlD]

If it runs and you get no extra air in the pump skimmer

[AnnaK]

Okay, this is where we're at now:

Around noon today I made sure the pot was full and then opened both valves, suction side and pressure side, but left the pump off. When I checked it around 16:00 the pot was half empty. There's no evidence of a water leak.

I filled it, sealed it, turned the pump on low. What I saw were many air bubbles, a lot of action in the pot, and a gurgling sound coming from the filter that I hadn't heard before.

There is plenty of water in the pool, halfway up the skimmer opening. I decided to backwash. Dropped the water hose in to add water. Removed the weir—it seems to impede water flow when the pump runs on high and that's the backwash setting.

Turned the pump on high. The pot filled itself to its total maximum with just the smallest air bubble under the top of the domed lid. I ran it through two backwash and rinse cycles, then set the pump back to low.

As of now, the pot is still full, the pump is on and there's no gurgling in the filter. I'm wondering whether the weir door gets stuck and doesn't let enough water into the skimmer? I left it off for now.

Such drama!