No Suction

[OneBadUukha]

Hi everyone.

I live in an area with occasional strong winds. It's that time of year. I've been running my pump a couple of hours per day with the creepy crawly vacuum picking up the debris from the winds. It does a great job. After a night of strong winds the vacuum started up again and cleaned for awhile, but then it stopped. The pump was running, but no suction.

I thought the basket by the motor was full. It was, only a little though. I emptied it and started it again. After 5-10 minutes, still nothing. When I turn off the pump and looked in the reservoir (i have to take off the cover, can't see through it like modern systems) that contains the basket, water flows back into the reservoir from the direction of the filter. Given this and that the motor runs, these indicate that the pump is working.

However, no water comes from the supply side, that is, in from the pool. I unhooked the vaccum from the skimmer return to remove it from the equation. No change. I connected an airtight hose to the skimmer drain hole and was able to blow air through it that someone at the other end near the reservoir could feel. So it's not clogged.

Any suggestions you may have as to the cause and solution would be grand. Thank you!