Question on pump design - volute/motor connection

[stualden]

I'm looking for a new pump to replace my 17-year-old American Products one. In the spring my pool takes in quite a bit of junk from trees in the area and periodically I need to disconnect the motor and clean out the impeller when it becomes clogged.

I noticed that some new pump designs don't appear to have the metal band / o-ring connection between the motor and the pump housing, but instead everything is bolted together semi-permanently. Others (like most of the Sta-Rites) have the band/o-ring, like my current pump.

For my situation does the two-piece arrangement sound best? Or are the new pumps so great that they don't clog like my old one does?

Thanks.

[waste]

I work mostly on Hayward products - the superpump has the 4 bolts and I find it very easy to work on them (but I've ripped a couple hundred of them apart) Northstars are closer to what you've had - but Northstars have some serious design problems! The Tristars have 6 bolts and I haven't ripped too many of them apart (yet...). I like the ease of taking the seal plate and motor off of the Sta-Rite pumps, no tools required, but they screw the volute on, as opposed to the Hayward's that just slide on. As long as you aren't having to do a shaft seal replacement and you like and know them, stick with the type you have been using.

ps. have you tried a skimmer sock in the skimmer basket to help reduce the fine debris that gets to the pump?

[chrisexv6]

Not trying to hijack the thread....interested in the "design problems" on the Northstars. Ive seen a few references, yet have a Northstar from 2003 thats working absolutely perfect.

Whats going wrong with them?

-Chris

[waste]

Chris, if your Northstar is working well and has given you no trouble in 4+ years, everything's cool

The biggest problem that I've seen is the lids - apparently even Hayward noticed this because they completely revamped the lid gaskets a few years ago (of course no one notified us that the change had taken place so ~ 10 times I went to fix an air leak, caused by the lid gasket, and had the wrong part for it). A couple of years ago 1 month old Northstars had either bad shaft seals and/or bad motors I shouldn't have to replace a seal nor motor that has only been in use a month! The higher HP models 1.5 + are supposedly able to run 120 volts, but they trip the breaker quickly if you wire them for 120 (sometimes we complete a pool before the electrician can finish his wiring, so I'll do a temp. hook up to an outlet so the pool can run until the electrician can finish up)

Please don't get me wrong - the Northstars are very powerful pumps, if they can get the 'bugs' worked out, I'd have NO problem reccomending them. I'm glad you got one that hasn't had the issues I've seen

[stualden]

Back to the original topic - waste, thank you for your advice.

I will definitely try a skimmer sock this year. Even with that, though, I expect to have pump clogs when I'm vacuuming up junk off the bottom when I open the pool. I have a mesh cover and unfortunately it allows quite a bit of stuff through.

--Stu