My pool water became quite dirty so I decided to drain about a quarter of the water and touch up a few tiles near the top at the same time.

I have refilled it back to the normal water level but now when I switch the pump back on the power just isn't the same as it was. If you put your hand over the water jets in the pool the water isn't jetting out with the same force as previous. And if you look at the skimmer basket that is connected to the front of the pool pump the water flow (when on) doesn't come to the top of it when viewed through the see through glass lid. Also the pump doesn't quite sound the way it did, possibly due to there not being enough water going into it?

The pump was new last year and working fine before I drained the water so just wondering if anyone knows what the problem could be as I'm stumped!

Thanks.

It sounds like you have air in the system.

Vent the valve on the top of the filter and try again.

yes is the pump at pool full level, ie, over ground or thereabouts? if so, bleed the air out by backwashing & loosening the pressure valve.

If the pump is lower than the pool let gravity do its thing.

I think you should check that the skimmers and pump filter are clean, backwash the sand filter and then check the flow again.

As fred says, it sounds like air in the pipes, is the valve on the pipe from the bottom of the pool open to give maximum flow, this should clear any air ?

Many thanks for all the replies!

First up the pump is underneath the pool and it did occur to me there may be air in the system so I let it drain some and also back washed the filter but it made no difference. Maybe I didn't do this for long enough?? The valve on the pipe from bottom of the pool is fully open and both skimmers are clean.

As for bleeding the valve at the top of the filter, how do I do this correctly. Should the pump be running and the pool be filtering as normal?

Everything should be off, the the air should rise to the top of the sand filter and can be drawn off.

Most sand filters are self bleeding when running

True, but it`s not running right, there is no pressure to push the air out of the pipework.

Given that a go (bleeding) and the water in the pump skimmer is now flowing upto the top of the lid but there isn't much pressure coming thru the system.

When you put a hand over the jets in the pool its fairly weak. Is it possible the filter is clogged? Although before I started to empty it it was running fine.

Just to close this topic.

I decided to take the pump off and take it apart. Low and behold it was blocked with Palm tree seeds, just the right size to squeeze down the gap in the pool pump impeller and stop the water flowing through it. Pushed them all out with a long screwdriver and connected it all back up and bled the system & it's now working fine. Saved myself a few quid

Well done and thanks for the update

Good news, but they shouldn`t of got through the filter, was the basket fitted tight ?

I think what had happened was when I emptied the water the pool pump skimmer basket had filled with seeds on a couple of occasions so a few of them must have escaped when I pulled the basket out to clean it. There was literally only about 10-15 of them jammed in the impeller.

Next time I will cut off all the seeding branches from the Palms before they drop into the pool and surround areas as they don't half make a right mess.

Sounds a good idea.