How To Troubleshoot a Pool Pump That Is Not Fully Priming

Great video!

How to get lid off

Hi there if the o ring is bad and sucking air , would you see bubbles in the pool? Thank you

My pump basket has water coming out when I turn off pump and close valves. But when I turn it back on there’s no water in the basket. Any tips? New to pool care. Thanks!

Thanks for the Vid!

I have hayward 700 super pump just stopped priming. This is only 2nd year will the o ring wear down that quickly?

Thank you, my issue was the pump lid o-ring - this was a great help to me thanks again!

Hey Rob, I have an inground pool with a Hayward Super Pump and I’m having air bubbles in my return lines and in my pool pump….so I took the water hose trick and put the hose at the front of my pump where the lid is and the bubbles went away and once I took the hose away they came back….so is my problem the O ring? I l took out the O ring and looked it over pretty good it doesn’t look bad at all just has Magic Lube on it

right on the money thank you.

Thank you! You just saved me from paying someone $120. It was the seal. May God bless you and your family always.

No way just pump o ring was the issue here!

Well- In my case was step 1 - make sure the skimmers are open. Pool maintenance people closed them and forgot to reopen them.

Troubleshooting worked like a charm went from this is bad problem to maintenance. Thanks!

We have a used pump and 325 sq ft cartridge filter that was given to us. It had sat up unused for a while before we got it. Replaced a couple parts on the filter, bought new cartridges and it’s working fine. We turned on the pump to test it (just for a few seconds) without water and it sounded fine. Once we installed it and turned it on, it works great on high speed but if we switch it to low speed, the water flow drops way down and then the pump trips after about 30 seconds. Do you have any idea about why this is happening on low speed. Thanks

Thanks for your help. Turns out a pine cone got below the skimmer basket (maybe when I was cleaning the basket?) and it was reducing the flow. That was a fast and inexpensive fix. Whew!!!

I need help

Will a small leak after the pump (say the collar of a sand filter that has small beads of water escaping) cause the pump basket not to fill all the way? Thank you

Great video my skimmer plate wasn’t opened i called professionals they couldn’t figured out easy fix thanks a lot

My Janus variable speed pump controller has time at 65: 1247 how do I reset back to non military time?

Hey you put the lid on correctly at the end of the video great job I bet that that was your problem

Hey Rob I noticed that your pump lid is not on properly look at a picture of a Hayward TriStar pump that's new and you'll see how the lid is tightened have it backwards

I have a new Zodiac pacer set up. When I run the pool pump with out the Pacer connected the whole system flows properly and strong. Once I add the Pacer then it stops sucking and the waterflow drops completely. I replaced the sand , skimmer lid and added the new Pacer ( had a n old Pacer ) . Checked everything you guys suggested. The flow is good when nothing is connected but once the Pacer is connected it stops working and the flow reduce greatly..... HELP PLEASSSSEEEEE!!!!

The second half of that comment about filling with a outside water source is for a in ground pool.

The pump must have water to it to prime. If you turn on the valve with the lid loose so that the filter is fills full of water, then tighten. It will prime. If the o ring is in need of attention it will be leaking with the pump off unless the pump is higher than the level of water in the pool. Above ground pool. In this case valves off, fill with water, put lid back and tight, valves on and start. You run the risk of damaging the pump by letting it run dry trying to prime.

why the hell didnt you empty the pump basket of all the crap?

Thanks! Worked for me

Great help. Thanks

Can you explain what you mean by letting it run on high speed? I’m confused as to high and/or low speed? I have a 38000 gallon inground pool with a blue torrent pump. O ring is good & primes we’ll but after about 10-15 minutes, I notice my Pool jets become very week & the pump looks as if water level is half way which may be it’s sucking air into it. I’ve checked the propeller to make sure there isn’t debri. Is there a speed I should be adjusting & how exactly do I do that? My apologies in advance, my Pool service guy I normally have do all this can’t be reached.

Thanks for this. I had already cleaned the impeller and wasn’t sure what else it could have been. It was the O-ring. A little lubricant and off we go!!

thanks for sharing .❤️

The Lid is backwards, just saying

ohhh... trying to find a video about the valve leaking and now I think it means, my valve must have a o-ring 🤔 which means if its leaking somewhere near the handle. must need to change. I've been looking at a store's stuff to find valves or whatever can help me figure out the problem and websites and videos, left and right. Think I may know now! Thank you so much! Going to make the test with a hose and or bag, and possibly open that thing up.😄

Great video!! Solved my problem right away.thank you so much

The first thing I noticed is that you don't have a safety fence with a safety gate surrounding your pool....by law aren't you suppose to have one.

Great video! Did all that and won’t prime tho 😩

Thanks for this video, You mention using plastic wrap to create a vaccum, this didn't work for me, but it created a pool of water, and highlighted a crack that was basically invisible. I patched up the crack with a mixture of paper towel and superglue to create a plastic, and the pump is now fully primed. We almost spent a bunch of cash because the pool company told us iit was the filter, and wanted to charge us an arm and a leg. All we need to do now is buy a replacement elbow joint.

i have a salt water pool and a water fall ,13000 gallon pool .i have a 2hp pump i wanted to go to a variable but have told NO because the water fall will need to extra power to run the pool and the water fall "when it is on"( rarely used.) What do you think? ..the variable would save me a lot of money but i dont want to sacrifice the full use of the water fall for that. Suggestions???

Should you change anything about your pool chemistry before you have a pool party

I just installed a new variable speed motor a Century ECM16SQU with a GOKIT54.for my old Sta-Rite pump.Everything worked but I get bubbles in the pool and the pump basket area. This happens at lower speeds. At 3100 RPM a get a few bubbles in the pool but none in the basket. at lower speeds there are lots of bubbles. No debris in any basket, I replaced the o-ring for the pump gasket. I also replaced the o-rings and gaskets for the new motor install and did not touch any of untouchable parts. the only thing I can think of is the 10" gasket under the stainless steel ring. I haven't taken it apart until I get an ordered replacement. Thoughts? Again this is a new install from last week. Wanna do a new video? 45 minutes from you guys.