Pool pump won't prime after backwash

[Russell]

Hi, I'm having trouble with my pool pump and/or filter. My wife knows more about this than I do, and she is out of town. So wouldn't you know it, the first time I try to backwash the pool, something goes wrong. I cleaned the skimmer, then opened the basket on the pump and cleaned it, replaced the basket and cover, then backwashed. After cleaning the basket I had to prime it again to enable it to backwash, then it backwashed just fine. My wife forgot to tell me to run a rinse cycle, so after the backwash I went straight back to normal filter mode. The water was down yet again in the pump, so I primed it yet again, and it kept acting like it was going to behave normally, but then the water ran back down. So I called my wife and she told me about the rinse cycle. I ran the rinse, but again had to prime it, but it ran fine after that on rinse. Then I tried putting it back on regular filter again, and yet again having to prime it, and yet again it never "caught" but seemed to be pumping air as the water level in the pump/basket area went down. I have been able to backwash it since then just fine (after priming again for the umpteenth time), but have yet to get it back on regular filter working after 2 days of tinkering with the thing. I have to believe it is some kind of operator error, because it seems too coincidental that it would happen to break at exactly this time. I have called my local pool people, and they all say it is quite odd that I can prime it to backwash but not to get the regular filter going again. Halp!

[free info]

Is your pool level up high enough? If its low you can suck air at the skimmer. When you took off the pump basket lid did the O-ring fall off the lid? You can lube the O-ring which will make it air tight, look at it and make sure you don't need a new one. If this doesn't work add water to pump prime it up and check the backwash where the water flushes out to, is it still leaking water out of backwash mode? You might need a new spider gasket which seperates all the modes when turning the handle thats inside and easy to replace.

[Russell]

Is your pool level up high enough? If its low you can suck air at the skimmer. When you took off the pump basket lid did the O-ring fall off the lid? You can lube the O-ring which will make it air tight, look at it and make sure you don't need a new one. If this doesn't work add water to pump prime it up and check the backwash where the water flushes out to, is it still leaking water out of backwash mode? You might need a new spider gasket which seperates all the modes when turning the handle thats inside and easy to replace.

Thanks so much for responding. I figured out the problem. Can't believe I wrestled with this for 2 days. I wasn't screwing the cover back on tightly enough. My wife had warned me about overtightening it, and I just wasn't tightening it enough. I applied some silicon lube and tightened it down, and everything is working perfectly again. She handles most of this stuff, is honestly smarter about mechanical things than I am but is out of town visiting her folks. I bet sometimes she wishes she had never married a writer.

Thanks again!

[lorraine 13]

Hi
I have a thermostat that comes on when the temp falls, when this happened I heard the pump trying to pump.
When I looked in the basket there was no water - so I took the lid off and filled it with a least four watering cans of tap water, and still the water did not come up in Sand filter. I then heard the pump not making a very nice noise, so I assumed it had burnt out. After ordering a new the pump, which a electrian is fitting to day I notice the pool water had dropped below the skimmers,,I have had that happen in the summer months, ( maybe I have small leak somewhere) but never in the winter as the water gone down to that level.

If the pump had been trying to pump, Would the WATER DROP or do I now have a major leak.

I am worried if the new pump gets installed, and I do have a leak that a another pump burns out.

Hoping to hear from you today. Regards Lorraine Edwards