Air in filter-was Dad wrong?

[ellieirish]

All through my youth we had an above ground pool growing up. My dad took care of it and the cardinal rule was that you avoided letting air suck into the pump at all costs. This was drummed into our heads back in the day when there was a separate intake and output hose that hung over the side. I've been a pool owner now, as an adult, for the past 16 years and my husband, who's never had a pool in his native country of Ireland, takes care of it. He routinely, when setting up the vacuum or doing routine cleaning of the skimmer, allows loads of air into the pump and hose. That loud, screaming sucking noise can be heard all the way into the house and I'm constantly telling him that we will lose suction and that it's bad for the pump. He ignores this and purposely lets it suck air for the length of time he's setting up the vacuum, etc. He asserts that my dad, an electrician by trade, knew nothing about pumps and filters and it's fine for air to get into it. Raised as I was, this is like cussing in church to me, you simply don't do it. Which one of us is correct or is there a middle ground here?

[mas985]

A short burst of air should not be a problem and is really no different than a pump priming. The biggest issue is that without water cooling the ceramic seal, it could get damaged but only after a fairly long period of time.