Air Bubbles in your Pool Pump? | Dealing With Suction Leaks

[Music] hey guys it's mark from hallmark pool supply i'd like to talk to you guys today about air leaks or bubbles in your pump in the industry more commonly known as suction leaks and most suction leaks or air leaks are going to be in this general area but what i like to do is i like to isolate the leak first and how do we do that let me explain first of all we have a drain line coming in and we have a skimmer line coming in so anything coming from the pool to the pump is going to be under suction anything coming from out of the pump through the filter and your returns back to the pool is under pressure so by isolating the leak we can determine possibly where the problem is so what we want to do is while the pump is running i've got the drain and the skimmer opened i am going to come over here and i'm going to turn off the skimmer when i turn off the skimmer i want to watch this and i want to see if the air is still there or if it disappears if it gets worse at this point we still have air so now i'm going to open the skimmer and i'm going to close the drain when i do this and i'm watching it and let's just say all of a sudden the air disappears if the air disappears then that tells us something that tells us that we must have a fracture or a break in the drain line from the valve back to the pool because if it was up here we would still be sucking air so this is just process of elimination by having it run airtight on the skimmer but pulling air off the drain that tells us and as soon as i open the drain now we start getting air again now let's just suppose that we're running it we have air i close the drain running it off the skimmer we still have air i open the drain i close the skimmer we still have air then that tells me more than likely the leak is going to be pertaining from the valves up to the pump it's very doubtful that we're going to have a fracture or a break in the drain line and the skimmer line at the same time so what we want to do and this is very important we want to have somebody by the switch on the pump and while this pump is running and we're pulling air we want to get down and we want to look very closely at our plugs here we want to look at the fitting where the fitting goes into the pump we want to look at the lid around the top we want to look at any joints in the plumbing we want to look at our valves and what's going to happen is while it's running you tell somebody to turn off the pump and at the same time you are looking you're going to have to do this several times because we're going to be looking at different areas and what we're looking for is as soon as the pump is turned off if you see any water coming out or spraying out from anywhere on the pump or in a joint or in a valve then you've just found your leak and what i like to do is i like to get a paper towel wipe then have somebody turn off the pump and look and you will see when they turn it off if there's water leaking if there's water leaking or coming out or spraying out after you turn the pump off then it's definitely pulling air when it's running now this is very important you cannot do this by yourself turn off the switch and come over here and get down and look at it because by then it will be too late when we are testing for a leak and someone turns the switch off we have to literally be right on it we've only got about a one to two second window to see the water coming out it's instant so as soon as we see something then we know what we're looking at so you have to have somebody turn it off so that you can see it because it's only going to happen in an instant we want to make sure we dry the area if you think you see something and then just get very close and look at these areas and it doesn't matter what kind of pump you have all pumps have plugs they have housings they have lids gaskets o-rings and they have plumbing going into them so all of that's going to be pretty much the same but what we're doing is we're trying to look to see if we see something for an example if we turn it off and we see some water coming out of the out of the pump here off the lid then that tells me that's something i want to check so we turn the pump off we open up the pump we want to examine the lid make sure that it's not cracked we want to make sure that there's no debris in here we want to make sure that the gasket is good that it's clean that it's not damaged it's not pinched there's no trash in it and if you do see anything like this then it might be where you have a leak and it's not sealing properly therefore that's why you're pulling air so we want to check all these things make sure that we're good if we check everything and everything looks good then we can put it back on and we can test it again and once it's on and it's running then we can make sure that we are not leaking and here again you would run the pump and then wipe this down make sure this is good and dry and then turn it off and if you see anything coming out the moment the pump is turned off then you'll see it you cannot come back later and see it it's instant so you got to be right on it we also want to make sure that the plugs are good these plugs have teflon tape some of the newer plugs have o-rings on them if the plug is not tight or the o-ring is damaged or missing or you don't have it teflon taped then that can definitely suck air as well we want to check the valves we want to check the plumbing joints we want to look at all of this stuff and you're going to have to do this several times to pinpoint it unless you get lucky and find it right away but all of this has to be airtight in order for this to run with no air what is also important is the fitting going into the pump the fitting going into the pump you might be able to wiggle or wobble it a little bit you're not going to be able to move it too much because it's still attached to the plumbing but we want to make sure that this is good because if we see any water coming out of this the moment we turn the pump off then we know we have a problem here and so what we want to do is this is a male that's screwed into the pump the male is nice and straight as you can see if you get this fitting and we unscrew it and it's bill coned in then that means this is damaged and we want to replace it do not make the mistake of taping this and putting it back in it will work temporarily but eventually you will have that problem again the best result is to replace this so that it's going to be a new fitting and it's nice and tight and when we go to put it in it doesn't matter what kind of pump you have there's lots of different pumps but most pumps have a stop and what we want to do after we cut the bad fitting out is we want to take and teflon this hold the fitting in the left hand go around it clockwise about six to eight times and then we want to screw this in and you will have to get a pair of channel locks and put it in so it's nice and tight you can also feel in here when it hits the stop you don't want to go too tight because if you go too tight you might crack the housing and then we've got a problem so we want to make sure this is good and tight when these fittings wobble or they get loose they suck air why would this happen this is usually caused by a pump running at any given point in time with no water or very little water and when that happens it gets very very hot and it can deform the fitting like i explained in our other video how to prime a pump we want to make sure that these are good and tight and solid so that we don't suck air and that will make for a better run it'll also allow the pump to prime better but it will also eliminate all the air the other option if we've come to determine that the lid is good the gasket the fitting is good the plugs are good the plumbing is good as we saw over here and all the joints are good and there's nothing leaking when we turn off the pump then we might be looking at possibly a crack in the housing and it could be even cracked underneath at the bottom where you won't see it and if this is the case some people will caulk it or put tape on it or put putty on it that is a temporary fix it's like a band-aid it will get the pump running but the best way to fix it and the only way to fix it is replace the housing if the pump itself is old and on its last leg then it may pan out instead of replacing the housing to go ahead and replace the whole pump if you guys have any questions you can feel free to comment down below or contact me i will be glad to help i hope that this video has been helpful if so hit the like button and definitely subscribe for future content i do appreciate you watching and as always my name is mark and i'll see you on the next video you

Channel: Hallmark Pool Supplies

Views: 15,085

Rating: 4.9410028 out of 5

Keywords: Pool pump, pools, swimming pools, air bubbles, suction leak, swimming pool pump, pool filter, hallmark pool supplies, diy, how to, finding a leak, above ground pool, in ground pool

Id: SiEOIxYpJ5g

Length: 9min 9sec (549 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 12 2021