terrain11

Hello everyone, any help would be appreciated!! We have a 16x32 inground pool. It is running on Skimmer only because the main drain has been plugged. There gradually over the season has been more and more air coming out of the jets of the pool. Today there is a significant amount. There is a white 'mist' coming out of the jets due to the air, but still a lot of water movement. When i look through the clean cap at the pump inlet, i can clearly see a reasonable amount of air in there. Does anyone have any suggestions of what i can do to either remedy or find out the problem? I just dont want to call in a pool specialist if its something i can fix myself, i am mechanically inclined, im just not sure what to do! Thanks in advance, its greatly appreciated!! Richard

It is a 3 way valve. I have taken the top off of the valve to make sure everything inside is in good working ordering and everything appears to be OK. I am running right now on skimmer only and have pointed to jets to keep the best circulation possible. The second i try to turn the lever on the 3 way to bring the main drain in (even if i move the 3 way a quarter of an inch) the pump immediately loses prime. Im wondering if the old owners have plugged the bottom drain on purpose due to an old issue? Im starting to wonder if my best bet is when the pool gets warmer to dive to the bottom, remove the main drain cover and check if there is a plug, and if not to get a pool specialist out? We are trying not to make a service call to have it pressure tested .. but is apprearing that it may come down to that. Any suggestions i could do before i call in a specialist?? Thanks again everyone for your replies

Thanks for the reply. That is about the conclusion that i have come to as well. Im very much hoping that its not a main drain line leak because that would be a major pain .. but again, i agree that it an air leak somehow. We took the cover off of the lever section right before the pump (not sure of the proper name) stuck the hose in and rain as much water down the main drain line as possible .. we could hear it 'glug' full but didnt seem to hold the water completely. If there is an air pocket of some sort in the main drain line, is there a way to try and releive it? or is it best to just call the local pool company and have them test it? Thanks again for all the help

Hello everyone. My fiance and i just moved into a our house over the winter and are the new owners of a 16x32 inground swimming pool. We attemped to open it yesterday and everything went quite well. The pool is properly filled with water, all plugs have been installed on the pump and filter, eyelets put in the pool and the gizmo removed from the skimmer. When we tried to prime the pump to get the pool going it would not catch prime. When we have the lever set to skimmer only the pool works perfectly, but as soon as we try to set the lever to skimmer and main drain it wont catch. When it is on main drain suction only it doesnt work at all. Now we cant see the bottom of the pool due to cloudyness but we are quite sure that it is not clogged. We have also tried making sure the main drain line was full of water and then starting the pump .. but nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions or possible solutions to our dilemma?? Thanks for any help, it is much appreciated!!