Hayward PoolPump Losing Prime

[KC]

Hi,

I got some great advice earlier this year, so I thought I would give it another try.

I have a Hayward EC65 pool filter and all of sudden last week, the pump is acting wierd. When it runs, it starts to draw water in, then after a few minutes it seems to lose it's prime, then a few minutes more it starts to draw water again, etc etc.

I tried to back wash it and that doesn't seem to have done anything. I inspected the impellor w/o taking the pump apart and it seems to spin free with nothing clogging it. There does not seem to be a blockage anywhere.

Anyone have any ideas or advice?

I was wondering if there could be a seal or gasket inside the pump / impellor that could have gone bad. But why would I get an intermittentant draw?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[gini52]

== How is your water level? If it's a little low, the pump can lose its prime intermittently. == ==

[LugoMan]

I had something similar happen to me and it was a gasket. I'm not familiar with that brand of filter, but on mine there is a basket in front of the the impeller which has a clear, removeable cleaning hatch over it. The gasket between the hatch cover and pump housing got a kink in it and allowed air in after some pressure built up and it would loose prime.

[David Wolfenbarger]

I've had similar problems myself... My problem turned out to be a couple of screws on the valve assembly that had come loose. This was actually allowing air through the valve...

David Wolfenbarger

---------- [e-mail] (KC) wrote...

[KC]

To prove out my personal theory of troubleshooting, I am ashamed and humiliated to admit the following.

My water level was low, adding water has fixed my problem. Luckily I only bought 1 gasket for $10 and re-installed 4 fittings ~1/2 hr before asking for advice.

[LugoMan]

My skimmers make a horrible sucking sound when the water gets low, so this problem cant sneak up on me.

[jemmy ducks]

I'm so glad to hear you admit to this. When my pump was misbehaving my first thought was to take it apart and clean it. 45 minutes later, dripping with sweat, harrassed by flies, and having done nothing toward solving the problem, I decided to reseat the gasket for the filter basket. Duh.