low suction

[ulm4lyf]

I bought my house in October and I have never owned a pool before so this has been a learning process for me. I had a Polaris 269 that the previous owners left with the pool and it worked ok last year. This year when I went to open my pool it didn't really work at all. After buying new valves, o-rings, and other various things it still didn't work. I then took the Polaris apart to see what I could see. As soon as I took it apart 3 ball bearing fell out...I assumed that there should have been more, and I noticed that there were no belts and the gears were stripped so I just threw it away.

I then started to just use a manual pool vacuum to clean it with. It takes longer, but it did the job, at first. I had low suction but would pull up most things. I have a hole beneath my skimmer basket that i run mu vacuum hose to, which then takes it to my sand filter. The sand filter is supposedly only 2-3 years old. I have a basket filter that is attached to my pump as well and I have to clean it out often when I am vacuuming the pool.

As my post says, I am complaining about low suction. It was kinda low at first, then I backwashed and then my suction was great enough so that it would suck the vacuum head to the bottom of the pool if I wasn't careful but then it mysteriously just quite sucking. My pressure went from 20psi to 15psi. I bought a little ball valve to put down my skimmer basket line to try and blow any clog out, but no luck. I tried doing the same from the other end but no luck there either. I am not even sure that I have a clog.

I know that this is a long first post and no one likes to read long posts but I really don't want to spend another $200-$300 on my pool. I really WOULD like to be able to enjoy it as my family keeps asking when they can come over and swim. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Walter]

Above or inground? If you have a main drain make sure you have the valve for the main drain shut for better suction, if you don't then it sounds like you might have a clogged impellor or your basket is full of debris on the pump, Good Luck