Topic
The pump is the heart of the system and the biggest line on your power bill.
17 guides on this topic
What the spa makers' manuals say to check when hot tub jets go weak, surge or stop: the water level, filter, pump speed, air controls, valves and airlocks.
How a pool pump fails to start tells you where to look. Silent, humming, tripping the breaker or GFCI, or shutting off hot: what each means and what to check.
What switching from a single-speed pump really saves, what federal rules now let you buy, and when a new motor beats a whole new pump.
Water between the motor and pump body is the shaft seal, and it can't wait. The lid, the middle joint, the ports and the drain plugs each mean something else.
Whether you need a whole pump or just the motor, the port size that catches people out, and the two mistakes that turn a two-hour job into a plumbing repair.
Bubbles blowing from the jets mean air is being sucked in before the pump. Here's the order to check, from a free fix to the expensive one.
Setting a mechanical pool timer properly, what the fireman's switch does, what fails first, and why a variable-speed pump usually should not be on one.
The circulation loop from skimmer to return, why suction and pressure leaks look nothing alike, and the equipment order that protects your heater.
Why a skimmer stops pulling, where the air is getting in, and how to tell a cracked skimmer from a leaking faceplate before you start digging.
Entrapment risk, VGB compliance, and the date-stamped drain cover almost no homeowner has ever checked.
Grinding, screeching, rattling and gravel-in-a-bucket all point at different failures. Here's how to tell them apart before something expensive breaks.
High pressure and low pressure mean opposite things. Here's how to read your gauge and find the restriction.
Most heater faults are flow problems, gas supply problems or a dirty sensor. Here's the order to check things, and where to stop and call a pro.
The 8-hours-a-day rule came from single-speed pumps and cheap power. Here's how to work out your actual run time and what it costs.
Real model numbers, real prices and the spec that actually decides which variable-speed pump you should buy. Hint: it isn't energy savings.
How to size a pool pump properly using turnover and head, why oversized pumps are the industry default, and what variable speed changes.
A proper diagnostic tree for a pump that won't prime or won't hold prime. Cheapest causes first, with the tests that actually find the air leak.