Jin2008, I am sorry but when I first looked at your picture I didn't notice that there was three other pictures. From the other three pictures I can see that you do indeed have a Hayward primer pot. That could easily be where your air leak is. As to where the oring is located it is in a grove on the lid. When you remove the lid it is located on the side of the lid about a 1/4" from the bottom of the lid. Another thing that I noticed in the other pictures is it looked like the seals on the pump maybe leaking. Normally this would leak water out of the pump but if the intake was clogged the pump would create a lot more vacuum and that might cause the pump to suck air in through the seals. Of course I could be wrong about the seals as it is hard to tell by looking at a picture that was shot at quite a distance. But enlarging the photo it looks like the shaft on the motor between the volute and the volute looks rusted. Since none of the bolts look rusted than the source of water that caused the rusting didn't come an external source but probably from water leaking at the seal. Which could also be where you are loosing water. Unless the valve is leaking bad I don't think that this would add up to the water that you are loosing. The valve is probably dripping and it takes a little over 86,000 drops to make up one gallon of water. If it was dripping at the rate of one drop per second it would take about one day to loose a gallon. Another thing I saw in the photo is that you have slide handle valve on the filter and no way to put it in recir. That there is no pipe draining from the backwash port on the valve so I don't know if you are back washing the filter. I could not tell what filter you have and with the way the flow water through the filter is valved it could easily be a sand filter. In which case the sand could and probably is clogged. The one thing that I could not tell by the pictures is if the pump is a high pressure pump or a low pressure pump. But looking at the plumbing I would have to guess that it is a low pressure pump that would have a very tough time back washing any kind of filter with out an air assist. On the other side of the pump that can't be seen from the pictures it will have a metal tag on the motor. On this tag it will tell you things about the motor such as the hp of the motor and weather it runs at 1725 or 3450 RPM. This would tell me an awful lot about the pump. Also if you know what type of filter you have and the maker of it that would help. Mike

"... Her house build demonstrates that. She described the floor and stair riser issues in her first post ..." She does not go into detail on why the condition of the construction is the way it is. You are assuming it was all the gc's fault. While I am certainly not going to defend the GC she fired, I will say part of that condition might have been from the house being open to the elements for a period of time. ANother part was that she never gave the original GC the opportunity to make the work that was done ready to be installed over. The GC did not complete the project and was removed from the job before he could finish his work, so of course it was not ready to be installed over, because the work was not completed and the original GC did not have the opportunity to make sure the stair system or any other part was in a ready state to be installed over. She very well may have had just cause to remove the CG, but nevertheless she took on the GC responsibility on herself to ensure it was ready for finish trades. I believe it is apparent that this house was not ready to have finished trades in it performing finish work, and it was her responsibility as GC to make sure it was unless soneone else accepted that responsibility by contract. "...A person does not require a GC to have a floor put down. ..." The problem with this is that it was not as simple as getting a floor put down in a home that was ready to have finish trade present. Again, we do not know what caused the stair issues, which could have been: Framing problems caused by the GC's incompetance, or being open to the elements, which flooring installer holds no responsibility for because its a hidden condition, unless it was a tile contractor who must check for build stability, and deflection and rigidity requirements. You might not be aware that carpet, wood, and resilient installers are noit trained for, nor do they hold any responsibility or liability for framing issues. All of which she holds responsibility for as the project GC. The only way the flooring installers would hold liability and responsibility for framing (hidden conditions) issues is if it was addressed on their bids that they agreed to do the work. Any flooring installer would address this in their bids if they elected to take on the added responsibility and liability from stair framing condition and height requirements she may ahve had which could only ahve been taken care of with additional prep they should have addressed in their bids if they wanted to take on the additional responsibility and liability for an added fee. Additionally, she admitted she has no local building codes for such things as stair height. Could they have done better...sure. But it begins and ends with who is liable and responsible. She took that on by electing to be her own project GC. "... While it might have been possible for her to have stepped in earlier to babysit the install where she would have seen that they weren't able to handle the job, stopping it sooner than what happened, that doesn't relieve that company of their total responsibility for having installed a floor over an (obviously) unsound substrate. You can't remove prep from the flooring equation. The flooring company is the professional here and in charge of their own work. It's their job. Once they start putting the floor down, they have accepted the substrate as sound and taken ownership of the results. They did not act responsibly or professionally. Period. Doesn't matter who did the hiring. They and they alone are responsible for their own incompetent work ..." Again, (and again, and again, and again) an installer absolutely is responsible and liable for the surface they install over. However, I will disagree that prep cant be removed. It very well can, and often is removed. While most professional flooring installers do much surface prep, others do not, and FEW, if any, will concern themselves with framing issues AT ALL. I do, but most do not. It all boils down to what was included in the bid. Flooring installers have no responsibility to do added prep work unless they agree to be contracted to do it. They ahve every right to stop work, tell the GC this or that prep needs done before continuing, and tell them to give them a call when its ready to be installed. Lastly, you seem to be taking everything she says as gospel. I dont. I have alot of experience with customers, and customers lie alot... and often. Mostly to save face, save a buck, and/or to shirk their responsibility. The customer is not always right. Thats a falicy. I find it hard to believe that she had issues with the GC, then issues with all the trades. Everyone was wrong in every aspect of this project ... except her. I dont believe that for a moment, but I am not saying its impossible. What I see as possible is someone who bit off more than they could chew, and is blaming everyone else. I am not stating no one else holds any blame though. Could be a little of each. Bottom line its mostly her responsibility unless she has a piece of paper saying different ...except the subfloor issues which the installers absolutely are responsible for if they elect to do the prep and/or install over it.

It really sounds like they are simply using way too much Floetrol. You do not need very much. Even with the best brushes, many of the newer paints are simply too thicck to level very well. About 4 ounces of Floetrol per gallon allow enough time for the film to flatten and brush strokes to disappear. If you add Floetrol to the 100% acrylic SW full gloss paint, it works and finishes like the alkyd of many years ago. No brush marks and smooth as glass. Water based paints always raise the grain if applies to new wood. An oil/alkyd primer helps prevent this (but should stil lbe lightly sanded after aplication). If you cannot use oil base primer, sand the latex primer after it has dried at least 24 hours (it needs to be completely dried or it simply 'pills up' when sanded). You can only sand lightly on latex paints. If you go through the film you need to apply another coat and try again. 'Spotting' works sometimes, but it is very easy to create a build up of paint that wil show through the finish layers. Old woodwrok was primed, then painted with two coats. Sanding after the primer and then after the first coat helped eliminate dust nibs and other defects. After sanding you need to run a tack cloth over the surface to remove all the dust.

Thanks to everyone on this thread for making me do more due diligence than I thought I had to. I have learned a lot about the Barker process and options and I hope it will be helpful for those of you agonizing over a purchase decision. I also want to offer the highest possible praise to Chad Barker for his patience, diligence, and helpfulness. Finally got our order placed after extensive emails back and forth with Chad. We are getting the upgrade to hard white maple with the pure white (SW 7005) finish on the Westminster door style, and the following comments are only applicable to doors that DON'T have raised panel inserts. Painted, solid wood raised panel inserts or bead board are too prone to seasonal expansion and contraction and should be mdf. Paint grade maple is only marginally harder than alder(see my previous post on the janka ratings) . Alder machines better for door fabrication and is less prone to warping. The hard white maple is quite dense and doesn't make a good substrate for DIY paint application. You are likely to encounter chipping problems because of poor adhesion. However, with the factory applied paint, the commercial priming and CV finish are just as problem free as the painted alder. The wood panel inserts for shaker style doors like the Westminster that don't have raised panels are fine for painted applications and don't have the expansion issue that leads to raw wood showing up around the edges. With respect to stains and "cleanability" - the factory finish on the painted cabinets is conversion varnish, not just paint. As a result you have the most moisture and stain resistant finish you can get on a painted finish. Because the factory finish is CV, the SW 7005 paint you buy at the store is very close, but not an exact match. Something to think about when considering crown moldings and light rails. You can always bring a door into the store and have the computer try to color match it, but I've found those results to be iffy when the new paint is adjacent to the original. Regarding costs. We wanted frameless cabinets. Not a value judgement just a personal preference. The pre-built options for frameless are pretty limited until you get up into the true semi and full custom lines. Home Depot does offer Innermost - but their style/color/size choices are limited and for what we have ordered, the price was over 30% higher than our hard maple Barker order. In summary - if the painted Barker line give you all of the flexibility, quality, and style you want and your doors are the shaker style without raised panels, and you're concerned about dings to the doors and drawers - if there's some room in the budget upgrade to the hard maple. Just bear in mind that no wood is damage proof. It's just that the denser/harder the wood the more damage resistant it is. I hope this is helpful - and good luck with your projects.