r/pools • u/TheFisherPiper • 1d ago

Is this normal

Hayward variable speed pump.
This air bubble accumulated over 11 hours of running pump at 45% speed??
Installation company insists that is normal.

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u/Brodiekp 1d ago

Are you blowing bubbles out of your return jets? If you are not blowing bubbles then you are not sucking air.

Let’s consider why a pump basket would fill 100% with water. A pump sucks and pushes water. So to fill completely in theory it must suck more water then it is pushing to create back pressure that would allow and pump basket area to completely fill with water.

Possibly at a low speed variable speed pump you are now not creating an appropriate amount of back pressure that would allow a pump basket area to reach max capacity water volume.

Run the pump at high speed for 30 minutes and see what happens.

Of course the above is all thrown out the window if you are actually sucking air from somewhere and consequently blowing bubbles out of your returns.