Polaris booster pump rebuild

I just rebuilt My PB4 Polaris booster pump due to a failure caused by a disconnected hose. However the pump is now very loud, granted it was never a quiet pump but now I can hear it 200 feet away. I contacted Polaris and they double checked the assembly with me and they concluded it is a motor problem. Now I do know about motors from working with woodworking equipment for many years and honestly it does not sound like the motor. I replaced everything except the motor and housings.

Has anyone experienced this problem and if so how did you fix it?

If you believe it is the bearings do you have replacement bearing sizes so I can rebuild the motor.

If you think my efforts are fruitless due to the pump being a piece if junk, what do you recommend thats quiet.

GB

My Polaris booster pump had been on the failing edge for about 1 year and finally seized up. Apparently a seal began to leak and simply rusted/corroded the bearings, motor, and electronics. I was never really impressed with this pump anyway and it was always noisy. I simply purchased a Hayward 5060 booster off e-bay (new in box) and replaced the pump. It took me about an hour, very easy. I could do it in 20 minutes, now. The Hayward is still noisy but it sounds a lot better than the Polaris pump did and actually sounds normal.

For about $170.00, I recommend replacing the pump.

For the record I hate my Polaris 380 system. The motor noise is a little better now that I have started running it full time regardless of the bearings. I will see if it gets any better over time. The motor is supposed to be sealed, if water gets in the bearings then Polaris makes a pretty cheap unit. I have seen the Hayward for $165, looks just like the Polaris.

Out of all my pool equipment the Polaris has been my only headache. The 380 is always breaking for some reason. the float failed once and the reverse unit has cracked twice in two years. The second time I gave up replacing it and used polyurethane glue on the outside (yes it worked). The reverse housing is so thin it seems it was made to crack. No I do not abuse the unit. If I could afford to replace it I would scrap this one ASAP.

It does clean the pool when its running a small consolation, lol. :rolleyes:

GB

I have repaired my main circulation pump and polaris pump 3 times over the years. They are both circa 1985 units and virtually identical. The carbon-steel water seal leaks and damages the bearings by diluting the grease. The pumps can be disassembled and both the forward (near pump) bearing and rear bearing replaced. Remove motor end cap to restrain the pump shaft and allow impellor to be unthreaded from the pump shaft.

The tricky part is getting the three, long, skinny (3/16" I think) through-body bolts to come loose w/o twisting off. I now have only two bolts in my main pump motor, but that is adequate. If they twist off, you may be able to remove them once the assembly is apart by long soak heating the aluminum body w/ propane torch and turning the stub (hopefully enough) w/ vise grips to remove the bolt.

On reassembly I use generous anti-sieze on the long bolts to allow easy future removal. It worked on my last main pump repair, and 2 long bolts are still intact.

I found bearing replacement at local autoparts dealer. I think front and rear bearings are identical. They may be available from pool parts outlet also.

good luck

You don't happen to know what size bearings?

GB

I found what I believe is the removed bearing (not absolutely sure). It was 40mm OD x 18mmm ID. I believe it must be a metric bearing since both OD and ID were exactly mm increments.

Removing the bearing from the shaft required cleaning the rusted shaft, polishing w/ fine sandpaper, and pulling w/ a 3-leg bearing puller. I had to seek help as I did not have this tool myself.

good luck

I wrote the wrong dimension for some reason. It was 17mm ID, not 18mm.

regards

I did some more checking after your reply and found the motor to be an
AO Smith B625 made for Polaris.

I found a site with replacement bearings at about $10 each, I am still undecided should I rebuild or replace the unit. A new motor is about $130, a new Hayward booster pump is $165 complete ( I don't know how good their Booster motors are).

GB

Only parts you need to rebuilt are the rotating seal kit and bearings, unless your impellor is damaged, which can happen. Effort is probably several hours. Hopefully you know safe working practice w/ electrical circuits. It's not a place to guess about power on/off.

good luck

Follow up for everyone who responded. I ordered new bearings from an on line company after finding the correct bearing size which is 17x40x12 (MM). I used the best double sealed bearings I could find which costs $5 each. Even with a complete seal kit and new impeller the total overhaul was about $40.

I put in the entire pool electrical including a second 200 amp breaker box in the house so I figured turning off the breaker to the booster was a smart Idea. I took the Booster into my workshop.

First the rear bearing was OK but I replaced it anyway. The front bearing by the shaft was shot. Without a bearing puller this job would be difficult, luckily I had one that was long enough. I didn't see any real seal on that motor keeping out bugs and weather?

To make a long story short it took about 2 hours to do everything slowly and greasing everything back up for the next failure. One of the screws seized but luckily it was only the hold down for the front bearing. I managed to just tap the hold down to the side without drilling out for a replacement screw. Greasing all the screws will help for the next overhaul.

The Polaris has never run quieter. My wife said are you sure its working? I don't remember the unit running that quietly when it was new.

GB

Thanks for the followup.

These pump/motors are not bad units. The seals will leak eventually, but every rotating seal will do the same once the rpm-hrs are up. My pump runs 12hrs/day, 365 days per year for 4380 hrs/year service. I had seals last 5-7 yrs w/o leakage, thats over 20000 hrs service life. Many turbine engines won't do that many hrs w/o an overhaul.

Only thing I might change is to create some type of deflector device (rotating disc?) on the shaft between the end bearing and the pump. This would prevent water getting to the bearing and allow an easier repair. Still, it's not too tough to replace the bearing.

My main pump has a rear bearing noise that's been going on for about a year, and I've put off pulling the pump. The worst part for my pump removal/installation is releasing the wiring from the pump and unscrewing the conduit by rotating the pump. There isn't room for an interior conduit nut and the conduit threads into the pump shell. A real PIA.

I ***ume all your thru-body bolts released w/o problems? I'm hoping my remaining two come away easy when I replace the rear bearing.

regards

I have been dissatisfied w/ the noise from my main circulation pump for some time and decided to pull the pump and motor down. Pump seal was not leaking and I found both bearings in good condition. I had earlier puchased a 10-roll lot of bearings on ebay for $10+shipping and reinstalled two of these bearings. I kept my old bearings in case these China productst are no good, but noticed the ones in the pump were from China also.

I did the work in place w/o disconnecting the wiring which resulted in much easier repair. I laid a work pad of hard cardboard down and pulled the armature w/ bearings out. The 3 bolts (not 2 as I earlier said) were still in good shape and released easily due to previous use of anti-sieze.

After reassembly, and restart I was disapointed to find the noise level only slightly better. I now believe the impellor may be making the noise. Hard to tell.

regards