Another humming pump...........

[aylad]

okay, status on my pump (we won't talk about the Mountain Dew colored pool at this point! )

The impeller was seized up, but some working back and forth freed it up and now it's working with no problem. Put the pump back together, it makes all the right noises and works fine--except now it's leaking like crazy. When I first put it back together, there was a small leak from underneath the motor where it meets the housing. Took it back apart, repositioned the gasket between the motor and the housing, and put it back together-- it still works, but now is leaking worse. Thought maybe I put the gasket back in the wrong place, but there is a channel for it there and I can't imagine any other way to put it on. Anyway, everytime I take it apart and put it back together, the leak gets worse and worse.

Because the motor itself works now, I'm looking at the pump pieces. The impeller and diffuser are fine, so the only thing left to replace are the seals. I read somewhere that if the impeller seal is going bad, it will cause a progressively worse leak on the bottom side of the pump, so hubby is now on his way to the pool store to get a complete set of seals and gaskets. We'll just replace them all and see what happens from there. At least I got it running long enough to get a shock dose of bleach in the pool, but I don't want to keep running it until it's no longer leaking for fear of really screwing up the motor.

Al, I left you a couple of phone messages, but I think I answered the question already that I had for you....

[Poconos]

Something I thought about after we chatted.....since you can't see exactly where the water is leaking, from the mating surfaces that that O-ring is supposed to seal or from the motor air vents which would be the shaft seal, while you have it apart take a close look for any cracks in the pump housing. Highly unlikely but if there is one it could be opening up when you torque the bolts.
Catch ya later.
Al

[aylad]

OK, I'll check. The one thing I forgot to mention is that every time I put it together, the leak gets worse--hoping that confirms the suspicion about the bad seal....

Jan

[aylad]

The seal was the problem--the old one just crumbled away when I took the pump apart. So now it's working, not leakng, but it's VERY loud..and since I had to run it overnite last night because I'm cleaning up the green that happened while I waited for warm weather to work on it, the longer it ran last night, the louder it got. So--am I correct in thinking my bearings are bad. And if so, What kind of time do I have before it quits?

[waste]

Hi, Jan. Happy 2012!

I'd say the bearings are indeed bad. If they are, I can't give you a time-frame on total seizure but it should still start as long as you can manually get the shaft to spin.

Do you have a small electric motor repair place nearby that will give you a 60+ day warranty on repacking the bearings? If not, I fear you are looking at a new motor for the new year.

Please keep us informed as to what's going on and we'll advise/ help, as best we can.

[PoolDoc]

Janet,

You might want to look at the economics of a 2-speed motor, like these:
http://www.a1poolparts.com/-strse-Mo...Categories.bok

A 2-speed motor will move 1/2 the water on low for 1/6 the electricity.

I wouldn't bother with the electronic multi-speed motors. As far as I can tell, they do not save any more than then regular 2-speed . . . IF you have sized your pump correctly. And they do cost a LOT more.

However, you often won't find ANY multi-speed motors (2 speed or more) in local stocks, so if you want to go this way, you'll want to order parts BEFORE your motor finally dies.

[Poconos]

Hi Jan,
If the bearings are squealing then I wouldn't bother trying to repack them, if that is even possible. Just replace. If the races aren't rusted in place then replacement should be relatively easy with the right equipment. As for how long before total failure? Anybodys guess.
Al