Pump losing pressure or another problem?

[nachomendez]

Hi, I have a pump that has started shooting water out in spurts. It is a 24 Watt, 7 foot max height submersible pump that I've been using on aquaponics systems for 6 months. I switched from one aquaponics system to another about 2 months ago. It was running fine until last night until it started spurting (in between spurts of water, it's shooting out air). If I remove the pump from the system and test it, it works fine. I hadn't changed anything in the system. I went through it now and checked and reset all the connections and lowered the height level from about 5.5 feet to 4.5 feet. It still continues spurting. When I ran the pump by itself I couldn't tell if it was performing normally or at less pressure than previously. Any thoughts?

[David - WI]

Is the pump positioned differently, so that it can suck in small air bubbles now or so that small bubbles can collect inside the pump?

[Roger L.]

My submersible pump has a filter in it that needs to be removed and cleaned on a routine basis. If I go to long the pressure and volume reduce. You may be experiencing cavitation which would give the impression of surging. Not sure about your pump but check for a filter or some restriction to the inlet of the pump.

[aquaally]

I'm a newby to AP, but have some experance with constructon "trash" pumps. If this is a submersable, I would look a the entire suction side, pipes, filters, for any kind of restriction. Or even the inlet too close to the bottom. If it is not a sub. again suction side. Put some FT water in a spray bottle and spray liberaly around all fittings and watch for the pump to quit cavatating. The water will seal the air leak, for a few seconds and you will know which fitting needs to be resealed. Best to you!

[Aloha Don]

What happened with your pump?

[topz]

Just a side note I had two pumps start surging when I finally pulled them apart it turned out to be a film of bio slime in the impeller area once cleaned never had any more issue.