Kreepy Krauly air and pressure issue

[longday]

Hi, hoping someone can help. With no Kreepy Krauly attached in our pool, the pump & filter work perfectly. Pressure sits at around 13 pounds, and there's no air running through the system. Hook the KK up, and the pressure drops to around 5 or 6 pounds, and there's masses of air going through visible at the bubble trap.

I've checked the hose for leaks (even taped up each join, removed one section at a time, etc). The water level is fine, and I can't see it sucking air at the skimmer box.

I've had about three pool people look at it (one tried adding a Vac-Mate that did absolutely nothing) and nobody can work out the issue (another guy tried adjusting the suction levers between pool and spa suction).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
LD

[DesertPoolOwner]

Sounds like it's either the KK, the hoses or somewhere between the vac connection and the pump. The extra air is probably being sucked through the lid in your filter.

If you have a dedicated vac inlet (i.e. you don't run the KK through a skimmer intake), it should be easy to test.

1. Try running the vac line with just 1 or 2 hoses (and no KK) attached. Keep the hoses fully submerged in water. If the pump still has a problem then its a blockage beween the intake and the pump.

2. If #1 didn't work try with just the KK and a couple of fully submerged hoses. If this now causes the problem then maybe the KK has some debris affecting the intake?

Hope this helps...
Jonathan

[mr_clean]

Hi, hoping someone can help. With no Kreepy Krauly attached in our pool, the pump & filter work perfectly. Pressure sits at around 13 pounds, and there's no air running through the system. Hook the KK up, and the pressure drops to around 5 or 6 pounds, and there's masses of air going through visible at the bubble trap.

I've checked the hose for leaks (even taped up each join, removed one section at a time, etc). The water level is fine, and I can't see it sucking air at the skimmer box.

I've had about three pool people look at it (one tried adding a Vac-Mate that did absolutely nothing) and nobody can work out the issue (another guy tried adjusting the suction levers between pool and spa suction).

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You can do like said before, only use two kk-hoses submerged under water with kk hooked up & if you still get air in system it's not the kreepy krauly. It would be the system is getting air before or at the pump under more pressure causing pressure to go down.
You can grease pump lid which will get dried out & suck air under more pressure. Also look threw your pump lid & see where your water level is when running with kk hooked up, if it does not stay normal & water goes down your pump is cavatating which allows it to get filled with air. When this happens check the kreepy krauly's regulator that the hoses attatch to in the skimmer as it is probably bad.

[zydecohog]

I experienced a similar problem last summer. Checked the hoses, checked the filter lid, etc., etc.

The problem seems to be the KK regulator. It does not open enough and thus causes too much suction on the KK system of hoses and the KK itself. The regulator is supposed to maintain the correct flow through the KK. Maybe it tends to malfunction with age. With the regulator malfunctioning in this manner, you can probably pull a vacuum on an onion sack.

I placed a piece of 3/4" PVC pipe about 3 inches long into the opening on the regulator (the opening with the V notch). This was too much and did not allow the KK to move at all. I then tried a piece of 1/2" PVC pipe. This was still a little too big. I found a piece of tubing that fit inside the 1/2" pipe. This seemed to be the correct size.

Now the KK just cruises along. No more air bubbles in the pump suction strainer (all this air is probably not good for the filtering process, either. Especially a sand filter.) Pressure is up where it is supposed to be.

Hope this helps. I can take pictures if you are not clear on the solution.

[Mr.Phil]

I am having exactly the same problem as Mr. Clean. I would like to learn a little more about how the problem was fixed, if it was. I would like to see the photos of the fix as well.

Thanks.

[zydecohog]

I would be happy to send you pictures. I would need an email address, as I am not sure if you can attach pictures in this forum. Since the fix, I have had nothing but clear water.

On second thought, try this web address. http://www.zydecohog.com/kreepy/index.html

If you use this method, make sure the pipe is long enough so it will not get sucked back into the suction line.

[Felipe]

I had the same problem. Finally the conclusion is that when you have a high power pump the KK doesn't works well because cavitation occurs (air is present in the line not because a leak but the low pressure) and even if the KK pulses very strongly he doesn't advance cleaning the pool. The KK is very sensitive to cavitation. The solution is to lower the caudal in the KK line so that the pressure is not so low to produce cavitation. To do this you have these alternatives: use a lower caudal pump (for sure you do not want this); force to open more widely the KK valve as proposed in this blog; and partially open the bottom pool suction line in parallel with the skimmer line. I have tried this last option with good results. A useful test to correctly adjust the bottom pool line valve opening is to see that there is no bubbles in the pump pre filter window. Hope this helps.

[Kakashi]

Hi folks - I know this is an old thread. But after replacing our old pump with a 1.5 hp hayward superpump, I have the same problems as described above. KK is not working well (not moving or getting stuck) and air bubbles come out of the returns. Now, if I understand the problem correctly, the pump is too powerful and sucks air from the the smaller leaks in the system (somewhere - maybe the lid or the pipe connectors) while the KK regular fails to allow the correct amount of air to get in?

I am thinking about several options:
1) Ask the pool company to replace my new pump with a less powerful one. May have to lose some money. I used to have a 1 hp pump only. What do you think of this option?
2) I don't know how to adjust the regulator of KK. If this can be done easily, kindly let me know. We are just using one of the existing intake drain for the KK, so there is not much room to work with. (pipe is tightly connected in the limited space to the regulator). Or I can connect the pipe with the regulator from "above" the cover space (instead of thru the pool intake hole). This way I may have more space to work with.
3) Open up the other drains (main and 2nd drain) more - So far, by giving them about 1/2- of the pressure and KK 1/2+ pressure, the air bubbles are gone. However, the KK is not moving much either. Air pressure is 22. ( But if I give KK more pressure, air bubbles would start to come out and air pressure would drop to 10 (from 22) and KK is still not moving well.

Sorry for the long post. Any advice will be greatly appreciated!