Pool Pump Wont Circulate

[Honeydo'er]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

[IntrustCSLLC]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

[Honeydo'er]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

[IntrustCSLLC]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

Don't plug anything, how many suction lines are there (skimmer, main drain, pool vac etc)? I'm just saying to isolate as many lines as possible but keeping one open, then filling the pump basket with water, replacing the lid and firing it up. Usually if there are too many lines open the pump will pull and pull and all you will get is a trickle. The initial surge when turning on the pump is always strongest, how far is the pool from the equip and what is the difference in the water line versus the elevation of the pool equip?

[Pool Clown]

When you begin to get the trickle, how long do you let it do this before you give up and turn the pump off? That little trickle is what the pump does (normally) when trying to prime an empty, or close to it, suction line. Sometimes it takes a while for the pump to pull the water thru the line. As long as you're getting the trickle, there is no damage being done to the seal. It's when you have no trickle, thats harmful to the seal if left running that way for an extended period of time. Say longer than 15 min.

[Honeydo'er]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

Don't plug anything, how many suction lines are there (skimmer, main drain, pool vac etc)? I'm just saying to isolate as many lines as possible but keeping one open, then filling the pump basket with water, replacing the lid and firing it up. Usually if there are too many lines open the pump will pull and pull and all you will get is a trickle. The initial surge when turning on the pump is always strongest, how far is the pool from the equip and what is the difference in the water line versus the elevation of the pool equip?

There are two drain lines towards the bottom sidewalls of the pool plus two ports in the skimmer basin (one of which I know is a suction line), and the pool sweep. The equipment is about 90 feet from the skimmer and a foot or two above the water line. I ran a hose into the pump reservoir for a couple minutes but all I seem to be doing is filling the pool with water. The reservoir never overflows. I let the pump run for a couple minutes before shutting off. The system has worried for four years.

On a side note, the pool is getting very green and full of mosquito larvae. It is a fiberglass shell. Can I add a gallon of liquid chlorine and brush the walls for a while without harming the fiberglass if I cannot get the pump to work?

[IntrustCSLLC]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

Don't plug anything, how many suction lines are there (skimmer, main drain, pool vac etc)? I'm just saying to isolate as many lines as possible but keeping one open, then filling the pump basket with water, replacing the lid and firing it up. Usually if there are too many lines open the pump will pull and pull and all you will get is a trickle. The initial surge when turning on the pump is always strongest, how far is the pool from the equip and what is the difference in the water line versus the elevation of the pool equip?

There are two drain lines towards the bottom sidewalls of the pool plus two ports in the skimmer basin (one of which I know is a suction line), and the pool sweep. The equipment is about 90 feet from the skimmer and a foot or two above the water line. I ran a hose into the pump reservoir for a couple minutes but all I seem to be doing is filling the pool with water. The reservoir never overflows. I let the pump run for a couple minutes before shutting off. The system has worried for four years.

On a side note, the pool is getting very green and full of mosquito larvae. It is a fiberglass shell. Can I add a gallon of liquid chlorine and brush the walls for a while without harming the fiberglass if I cannot get the pump to work?

The pool will overflow before the skimmer line will fill up with water. Just leave one suction line open, close the skimmer(s)and the pool vac, leave just the main drain open then kick on the pump let it run to pull the water up, it should prime in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't recommend adding chemicals if you can not circulate them.

[Honeydo'er]

When you begin to get the trickle, how long do you let it do this before you give up and turn the pump off? That little trickle is what the pump does (normally) when trying to prime an empty, or close to it, suction line. Sometimes it takes a while for the pump to pull the water thru the line. As long as you're getting the trickle, there is no damage being done to the seal. It's when you have no trickle, thats harmful to the seal if left running that way for an extended period of time. Say longer than 15 min.

It only ran a couple minutes, but I have tried this a couple times. I also tried putting a hose/bladder into the suction line from the direction of the pump towards the pool and ran that for a couple minutes. I expected to feel positive water flow into the skimmer basin, but instead I felt suction in one port and nothing at all at the other port.

[Honeydo'er]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

Don't plug anything, how many suction lines are there (skimmer, main drain, pool vac etc)? I'm just saying to isolate as many lines as possible but keeping one open, then filling the pump basket with water, replacing the lid and firing it up. Usually if there are too many lines open the pump will pull and pull and all you will get is a trickle. The initial surge when turning on the pump is always strongest, how far is the pool from the equip and what is the difference in the water line versus the elevation of the pool equip?

There are two drain lines towards the bottom sidewalls of the pool plus two ports in the skimmer basin (one of which I know is a suction line), and the pool sweep. The equipment is about 90 feet from the skimmer and a foot or two above the water line. I ran a hose into the pump reservoir for a couple minutes but all I seem to be doing is filling the pool with water. The reservoir never overflows. I let the pump run for a couple minutes before shutting off. The system has worried for four years.

On a side note, the pool is getting very green and full of mosquito larvae. It is a fiberglass shell. Can I add a gallon of liquid chlorine and brush the walls for a while without harming the fiberglass if I cannot get the pump to work?

I don't have any valves that I can operate to isolate the lines. The only thing I can do is plug them up with plumbing test plugs.

The pool will overflow before the skimmer line will fill up with water. Just leave one suction line open, close the skimmer(s)and the pool vac, leave just the main drain open then kick on the pump let it run to pull the water up, it should prime in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't recommend adding chemicals if you can not circulate them.

[IntrustCSLLC]

I ran my pool pump the usual 8 hours last week. It started out fine but when I went to shut it off I noticed the pump was not circulating water and hte pool sweep was not moving. Not sure how many hours this was happening, but i checked for suction at the skimmer basket and there was none. So I replaced the pool pump (AO Smith B2841, part of Pentair Wisperflow system). I pried the pump and turned the pump on and off and it immediately pulled the water out of the reservoir. I primed it again and closed the reservoir lid and turned on the pump. The reservoir water immediately got sucked out by the pump, but then there was nothing but a slight trickle. Esentially no suction. Any helpful ideas? I live an hour from the repair person so I'm trying to figure this out before making that call. Thanks.

I'm guessing you are not getting the pump adequately primed 'cause it certainly sounds like it's pulling fine. Have you tried isolating the suction side to one line or another to see if it will prime that way? If you do get it to pull, then open the other remaining line(s) slowly, and if it starts to cavitate when opening a particular line, then I would investigate that line further.

The skimmer basin has two feeds. Just so I understand your suggestion, I should plug both lines at the skimmer basin, then fill the lines from the pump reservoir until full, then close the lid on the reservoir and then start the pump while unplugging one of the lines. If I get adequate suction, then slowly open up the other line. Correct?

A pool with no valves,..did I miss something. Can you send pic of the equipment?

Don't plug anything, how many suction lines are there (skimmer, main drain, pool vac etc)? I'm just saying to isolate as many lines as possible but keeping one open, then filling the pump basket with water, replacing the lid and firing it up. Usually if there are too many lines open the pump will pull and pull and all you will get is a trickle. The initial surge when turning on the pump is always strongest, how far is the pool from the equip and what is the difference in the water line versus the elevation of the pool equip?

There are two drain lines towards the bottom sidewalls of the pool plus two ports in the skimmer basin (one of which I know is a suction line), and the pool sweep. The equipment is about 90 feet from the skimmer and a foot or two above the water line. I ran a hose into the pump reservoir for a couple minutes but all I seem to be doing is filling the pool with water. The reservoir never overflows. I let the pump run for a couple minutes before shutting off. The system has worried for four years.

On a side note, the pool is getting very green and full of mosquito larvae. It is a fiberglass shell. Can I add a gallon of liquid chlorine and brush the walls for a while without harming the fiberglass if I cannot get the pump to work?

I don't have any valves that I can operate to isolate the lines. The only thing I can do is plug them up with plumbing test plugs.

The pool will overflow before the skimmer line will fill up with water. Just leave one suction line open, close the skimmer(s)and the pool vac, leave just the main drain open then kick on the pump let it run to pull the water up, it should prime in a couple of minutes. I wouldn't recommend adding chemicals if you can not circulate them.

[Pool Clown]

Guys, please use the fast reply button at the bottom of the page. We know what you are responding to. As you can tell by now, it just clutters up the thread and makes it confusing to follow!

Sometimes the simplest things are the reason for the pump not working. Had you recently opened the pump lid to empty the basket? If so, are you sure the o-ring got put back on correctly? Sometimes when you remove the lid, the o-ring can fall off and you might not even notice it(It has happened to me). Verify o-ring placement, and let it run a bit longer, remember, you can run it as long as you get some water flowing into the pump.

[Honeydo'er]

Thanks for the fast reply tip.

I checked the basket seal. I lubes the seal. Today I replaced the shaft seal. Still no suction. I tried reversing the wires to see if the impeller is rotating backward, but it had no effect on the rotation. There is an arrow in the housing showing the proper rotation, and the shaft is rotating in that direction. I was really hoping the seal would fix the problem.

The pump feeds into a large tank that holds the filters. The vent at the top of the tank is open while I'm running the pump. There is very little pressure building up inside the tank. I can put my finger over the opening and hold it there for 30 seconds. I'm really thinking now that the suction lines are clogged. Is it possible that all the suction lines get clogged at once? There is only a single feed line into the pump. When I forced water into the suction line from the pump I felt water being sucked out of the port at the bottom of the skimmer. How is that possible?

[Pool Clown]

What kind of pump is this (manufacturer)

[Honeydo'er]

The pump assembly comes from Pentair. The motor comes from ao smith.

I was just looking at the pump house setup. I have a single 2" abs feeding two pumps. One is for the skimmer and another for a waterfall. I can only ru. One pump at a time. I ran the waterfall pump for 5 minutes. No waterfall. There hwas got to be something in the suction line. Is there a way to blast out the suction line?

[Pool Clown]

What you explained doesn't sound right, can you post a picture of this plumbing? One line feeding two pumps could be the problem with priming.

[Honeydo'er]

I have the picture, but no way to post it. My pictures are not stored as URL's. How do I post a jpg file?

[Honeydo'er]

My issue has been resolved. I had a bad gate valve. The suction line feeding the second pump had an in line gate valve which had failed. The same suction line was also feeding the pool filter pump and was drawing air instead of water . I had two new gate valves installed (one for each pump) and things work better than ever.

[Pool Clown]

Glad to hear you have resolved this problem. Now go swim.