How To Prime The Hayward Super Pump

Even though the Hayward Super Pump is called a self priming pump you still will have to prime it with some water and make sure that there is no suction leaks before it will properly prime. The first thing you will want to do is to make sure that the drain plugs on the Hayward Super Pump Housing are tight. If you have the old style of Super Pump you will have some Teflon tape on the tapered threads on the plug. If you have the new style of the Hayward Super Pump you will have a drain plug with a washer, you will need to make sure that washer is on the plug and in good shape.

If you have a new style of the plug with the washer and the washer is worn or missing this will allow air to be sucked into the pump while it is priming and your pump will not reach a full prime. If you have a tapered drain plug on your pump housing you will want to make sure that the Teflon tape is in good shape otherwise you will want to replace it.

The next thing you will want to check is to make sure that the union on the suction side of the pump is tight. If you have a union that has an o-ring inside, which most systems do you will want to make sure the o-ring is not flattened. If the o-ring inside of the union is flattened, cracked, worn or broken you will have a tough time priming your Hayward Super Pump if you are able to get it primed at all. Once you have made sure the o-ring and the union is tight you can move on to the next thing to check.

Now that you have made sure that the drain plugs and the suction union are in good shape you will want to make sure that the Hayward Super Pump Cover Gasket is in good shape. A worn, dry, flattened or missing pump cover gasket can cause the pump to suck in air and not prime. If you think the gasket could give you problems or is showing wear then you might as well replace it.

Once you have checked the pump housing drain plugs, the pump cover gasket and the suction unions you will now be able to add some water to the volute / pump housing. What you will want to to is to remove the pump cover and then take a garden hose or a bucket of water and fill the pump volute until the water starts flowing down the suction pipe which is the one in the front of the pump.

Now that the pump volute / housing is full of water you will want to re-install the pump housing cover. Now you will want to make sure your discharge valve is set to the corect position and then you can turn the power on to the pump. The Hayward Super Pump should prime in anywhere from 30 seconds to 3 minutes depending on how far your filter system is from the pump. The further the pool or spa is from the intake(skimmers or main drain) the longer it will take for the pump to prime.