Big Bubbles with Solar

14 years ago

Hello there,

We are relatively new to our home and we are first-time pool owners. Lots to learn!

A few months ago we notice that when the solar heat was on, we had huge bubbles coming from where the water enters the pool, and on the second floor we could hear it "churning." A "solar guy" recommended checking our filters, and sure enough, our filters were filthy. We had the filters changed and the solar was running smoothly.

Until today. Now it is bubbling and churning again. Our pool was serviced yesterday -- could the pool guy have done something to cause this? Yes, I know the obvious answer is to call them, but when I called our pool service company about the churning the first time, they said they didn't know anything about solar, they just did the pumps and filters (as an aside, is that normal?).

Any thoughts or suggestions? TIA.

Amy

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Comments (3)

mas985
14 years ago
If the bubbles only occur on pump startup for the first few minutes, that is normal and part of the solar panel priming process.

However, if the bubbles continue and never stop, then it is probably the solar vacuum release valve allowing air into the panels. This usually occurs because the pressure at the panels has dropped and that in turn is usually due to a dirty filter but it can be caused by other factors as well. Try cleaning the filter first and see if that helps.
poolguynj
14 years ago
I will second the cleaning of the filter first and if that fails, climbing up to the roof top and checking the vacuum relief valve that lets air out when the system is priming but keeps the water in and lets air in when the system is turned off.

Scott
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chmpgntst
Original Author
14 years ago
It turns out the vacuum was completely stopped up -- a hunk of fibrous root was in there. The pressure must have tripped that valve. (I wrote my original post last night... noticed this morning that the vacuum wasn't running either.)