rileycentral Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 What are the reasons a pump will not prime and suck water through? Mine is stuck. The pump is brand new. We replaced it after the old one got fried. If the new pump is installed and wont fill with water, what can I do to get things cleared and/or the pump suction going again? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
three4rd Posted August 13, 2009 Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 What are the reasons a pump will not prime and suck water through? Mine is stuck. The pump is brand new. We replaced it after the old one got fried. If the new pump is installed and wont fill with water, what can I do to get things cleared and/or the pump suction going again? Thanks in advance. Hi, Many newer pumps, including mine (my old one also fried recently), are pretty much self-priming. Have you put a hose in the strainer and filled it up as much as it'll take? That's all it should need. It should, if the plumbing coming into the pump is good and tight, draw water through the lines and prime itself. If this doesn't work, then perhaps there is some sort of clog in the lines coming from the skimmer to the pump. Check your diverter valve in the skimmer to see which way it's turned. If the skimmer basket has lots of debris in it, maybe it's not drawing water due to that. Can you try drawing from the drain? Sorry I can't help much beyond those suggestions.... Best of luck...I'm sure you'll get it going. three4rd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rileycentral Posted August 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2009 Thanks a bunch. Unfortunately, still not pulling water from the pool. The weird thing is when I put a hose from the pump hole toward the skimmer hole at the pool, you see water flowing up from the pipe. This leads me to believe there is no blockage. Where else would I look for blockage? And if I need to rooter the system, how does one go about doing that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Clown Posted August 14, 2009 Report Share Posted August 14, 2009 Make sure the pump lid has its o-ring in place. Sometimes it's something easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rickg Posted September 30, 2009 Report Share Posted September 30, 2009 Had the same problem. Primed with 3 gallons of water 2 times. Would initially pull that water but little thru the intake. Put hose directly into filter basket and would pump that water. Fixed problem by selecting the closest return line and shut off others. Pump was able to self prime from only that line. Then slowly adjusted valve to bring on far basket. Then finally brought on bottom of pool. Relaced pump myself with some help from pool supply sales person. Hope this will help. What are the reasons a pump will not prime and suck water through? Mine is stuck. The pump is brand new. We replaced it after the old one got fried. If the new pump is installed and wont fill with water, what can I do to get things cleared and/or the pump suction going again? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ps558 Posted October 3, 2009 Report Share Posted October 3, 2009 Had the same problem. Primed with 3 gallons of water 2 times. Would initially pull that water but little thru the intake. Put hose directly into filter basket and would pump that water. Fixed problem by selecting the closest return line and shut off others. Pump was able to self prime from only that line. Then slowly adjusted valve to bring on far basket. Then finally brought on bottom of pool. Relaced pump myself with some help from pool supply sales person. Hope this will help. What are the reasons a pump will not prime and suck water through? Mine is stuck. The pump is brand new. We replaced it after the old one got fried. If the new pump is installed and wont fill with water, what can I do to get things cleared and/or the pump suction going again? Thanks in advance. check the pvc pipe coming in to the pump. if it was installed without any teflon tape or paste it could sucking to much air, thus will not prime. I have never ran into this the diffuser could have been left out during assembly. that requires taking the pump apart to verify Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfixit Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 yes, air in the pump is most likely either a bad connection at the plumbing entering the front of the pump or an air leak at the lid. Also check the drain plugs. They should have some kind of a gasket or rubber o ring to seal them. Keep in mind an air leak will most likely not leak water, so they can be hard to find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pool Clown Posted October 4, 2009 Report Share Posted October 4, 2009 Sometimes there is no problem at all. Just a long run, a vertical rise, or more than one suction line your trying to prime at once. That will take time. Sometimes it can take several min to prime. How long are you letting it try to prime before you turn the pump off? Note: Before all you other techs jump in here and try to tell me you should never let the pump try to prime for more than X amount of time, relax. You really can run the pump longer than a couple of min without damage. You do need to fill it with water first of course, and let it run, don't turn it off to soon cause if you do, you will have lost all that you accomplished to that point (pulling water towards the pump), and you'll have to start over. I'm not saying this is your problem, just suggesting you try this before cutting into the plumbing and re plumbing things, thats all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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