Dialysis system and methods

An air removal chamber configured to remove gas from a dialysis system, comprising:

• a blood chamber configured to receive a flow of blood from an extracorporeal circuit of the dialysis system;
• a gas removing chamber adjacent to the blood chamber;
• a ventable membrane disposed between the blood chamber and the gas removing chamber, the ventable membrane being configured to allow gas but not blood to pass from the blood chamber to the gas removing chamber;
• a level adjusting pump fluidly coupled to the gas removing chamber, the level adjusting pump being configured to increase a pressure gradient across the ventable filter;
• and
• an electronic controller being configured to monitor a pressure within the gas removing chamber, the electronic controller being further configured to determine that all gas has been removed from the extracorporeal circuit and that the extracorporeal circuit is fully primed if the monitored pressure has fallen.

An air removal chamber configured to remove gas from a dialysis system, comprising:

• a blood chamber configured to receive a flow of blood from an extracorporeal circuit of the dialysis system;
• a gas removing chamber adjacent to the blood chamber;
• a deformable, ventable membrane disposed between the blood chamber and the gas removing chamber, the deformable, ventable membrane being configured to allow gas but not blood to pass from the blood chamber to the gas removing chamber;
• a level adjusting pump fluidly coupled to the gas removing chamber, the level adjusting pump being configured to operate to increase a pressure gradient across the deformable, ventable filter;
• and
• an electronic controller being configured to monitor a pressure within the gas removing chamber, the electronic controller being further configured to stop the operation of the level adjust pump and continue to monitor the pressure within the gas removing chamber with the level adjust pump stopped, the electronic controller being further configured to determine that a leak is present in the extracorporeal circuit if the monitored pressure in the gas removing chamber does not increase with the level adjust pump stopped.