Hi Elsie,

We have Hayward pumps too and the "groaning" from ours is just the sound of temporary self-priming. There's water in the basket, but not a full basket chamber's worth, like when it's running properly and you can look at the basket window and see stuff swirling around.

Do you, by any chance, have a sloping yard for your pool? Our backyard is slightly sloped and the equipment pad is above the pool, so we're planning on adding checkvalves to all the lines that lose pump priming when turned off.

You mentioned the o-rings around the Hayward pump gasket being lubed regularly? I asked the Hayward rep how often to lube and replace them, and (surprise!) he said not to use them at all......They're only used for pump testing from the factory.

In any case, he took them out and they've been sitting on the equipment pad ever since, with the pumps working just fine.

If you have pump questions, you might try the Hayward tech support line. I've seldom seen such good customer support in end user products.

Hth,

STS