[johnco]

Air bubbles in the strainer basket are usually caused by some small leak that can be anywhere from the skimmer/main drain to the pump itself. rather than start digging up lines and breaking concrete chasing a pinole you may never find, hire a leak detection company to locate and mark the leak for you. Down here they charge about $450 to check everything. Maybe a little more if you have spa jets, waterfalls, etc.. you might want to repair it yourself once they located it because I'm told they charge $1200 to cut out concrete and repair. I usually charge $450 a leak, so I've done many. suction leaks are harder to find than pressure side leaks. unless you get lucky enough to get close enough to hear the sucking noise... you'll be digging up every foot of pipe. we go weeks with no rain, then weeks of rain which makes the ground shrink and swell. that's when the fittings start to crack.