[bottieri]

This problem is now resolved. Here's what I did to correct it:

The pump pickup pipe being almost half way up the tank was the cause. I cut that pipe and plugged it with a half inch OD brass nipple and capped the end. It is necessary to heat the blue plastic factory installed water pipe a little to soften it, to get the standard fittings to go into it. That was necessary at every connection. I of course, used clamps too.

I cut and spliced a tee in the drain line (which is at the bottom of the tank). It was necessary to install a ball valve between the tee and the drain cock as for some reason the cheap plastic drain cock allows air to be sucked in even when turned off. Regular clear plastic flexible pipe (hose) was used from the tee to the pump fitting. It is possible that this type of pipe could collapse under the pump suction if warm enough, but probably will be o.k. for such a short distance.

The pump intake is now teed off the drain pipe at the bottom of the tank and works perfectly.