Return pump being a pain in ebb n gro

So my fill pump works without a hitch. Timer comes on, pump fills buckets. But when the timer turns off and the buckets should be emptying back to the res, the pump gets air locked. 1 out of maybe 6 times the pump
Will retune like its supposed to, but the other 5 times ill go check the controller bucket and its full. The pump will just be running heating the water and not pumping back. If I jiggle the shit out of it it starts to pump, or if I seperate it from the return tube it starts shooting water.
Is there a solution? It's been doing this for 3 days. I've had this thing for months with no problems.
Any thoughts?

I think your pump need to be higher then the resi
because in order to pump and not get air in the line it will pump up and remain up out of harms way I your power goes out , if your power goes ou it can stop flow and back up into you pump !
Im no pro in this ebb flow bu I have seen alot of them and I would try it out
!
Thumbs

The pump can only go one place. In the bottom of the controller bucket

Ok , my bad
i was just tryin to help
good luck

Mabe that thin is old 3 yrs is a long time

If it where me and my op I would just go get a new pump and not try to deal with it, my ebb and grow never had that issue.

I did. It's not the pump. The pump works. The timer works. It's just getting air locked for some reason. Can't figure out why

This probably isn't the answer but just couple of suggestions.
First thing to check is the timer, obviously. Not just the settings but also that it could be broken. Remove it and try turning the pump on and off manually from the plug socket. From what you have said about it still running, this is most likely. If it's a digital timer, make sure you have your am's and pm's set right and that there isn't a 'random' button you have accidentally turned on.
Second, pumps do pack-up from time to time. This is usually caused by limescale. Some can be stripped down and cleaned. For others (and IMO a deeper clean for those parts you can't reach) you can run vinegar through them. Just put it in a jug of vinegar with the outlet running back into the jug and run fr 10 mins.

The pump sinew. The timer works properly everything works properly. It's just getting air locked somehow.

If it's airlocked, it must be sucking air somehow. Make sure the intake of the pump is pointing down towards the bottom of the control bucket. This problem was brought up several times in the Ebb & Gro thread.

Have you watched a drain cycle? I'd run a couple test floods to see what's happening during the drain. You might see when/how it's sucking air and then you can decide how to deal with it. Good luck and let us know what your solution is.