Best way to purge air from pump??

[SacoDeToro]

Gravity usually does a fine job of purging the air from my lines. Once the liquid equilibriates, I fire up the pump. Occassionally, things don't fully purge the air and the pump cavitates. When that happens, I'll close my valves and fill the lines with water. That always seems to do the trick. Make sure you close your valves before disconnecting or your have wort shooting out immediately.

[Hammer]

Sheen has it right. In my experience this is the way to go. In on the bottom out on the top. Made a big difference in how quickly my pump primes.

[Henway]

I tried this and figured out how best to do it (for my setup).

I put my pump with the in at the bottom and the out exiting the top. The real trick was pulling the return copper that goes in the pot ABOVE the level of the wort so when I open the valves the wort can properly level. After the pump is primed this way I can drop the return into the wort. Before, I think it wouldn't reach equilibrium because when the return is submerged the air can't escape because the fluid pressure doesn't let it work.

Thanks all!

I just wish I had been able to pick up the reduced price in-line oxygenating stone/gauge that was on sale two days ago before they reached their max at MoreBeer. It would have worked great with this setup.