Ok, the little one and his friend went swimming today and pushed all the dirt to the sides of the floor. So if I don't look hard, and think about getting the deck up, it's not so bad...

My wife and I jumped in for the first time for about a half an hour before the friend showed up and they started splashing all over the place. First time in! It was a nice 86 degrees.

I can see that smile on you face from here!

If you remove the impeller, you need to install a new shaft seal. You should never reuse the old one.

This is what all the work is about...
YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!!! Nothing like what the happiness of our little ones does to our heart strings.

It doesn't look like I'll be removing the shaft seal looking at the drawing I have. Guess I'll find out! It's not real clear how the impeller is mounted to the shaft though...



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You will, half of the seal is on the impeller. The other half is in the pump housing. I work on, and sell these pumps everyday!

Ahhhh, well guess I better get one then.. Thanks!

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Quote: The O Ring on the pump basket lid is stretched out, and of course all the stores are closed today. It's a pain to get that o ring in and seated properly while closing the lid... You'd think they'd put a valve or something on the lid to let the air out and the water in.

I have the same problem with my O ring on my Hayward pump. I bought it new and it seemed the O ring was already too large for the skimmer. My husband would spend 15 to 30 minutes getting the lid off and another 30 minutes trying to get it back on because the O ring kept getting pinched out underneath the lid. What's up with that? Anybody know?
And by the way KIAS...great job! Your pool is looking awesome!

My wife is always finding used pools for sale and trying to get me to buy one (we just have a 18'x48" Intex metal frame). This thread has been a real eye opener and has been my favorite thread for a while now. At first it scared me to death and made me think that I would never buy a used pool. The fear has lessened now, so it comes down to how much money can be saved compared to the amount of work involved. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Seeing the end result really gives me the fever, but I already have a backlog of home projects so I won't be "diving in" any time soon.

"I have the same problem with my O ring on my Hayward pump. I bought it new and it seemed the O ring was already too large for the skimmer."

Tbell, the only time we have problems with the O ring is if it doesn't have enough magic lube on it. I'm assuming you're using that?? Otherwise that lid can be a horrible thing to deal with.

Rob, the pool is looking great. The smile on your young man's face has to make it all worth it! Is the deck done yet???

Well, got the caps on today! YAY!



...and if you're new to the BBB way of life, let me just say this. I jumped in today, went under water and came up with my eyes stinging. I proclaimed, "The PH must be high!" Shoanuff, the ph was 7.8. Going to adjust when the kids get out for dinner. Been working hard on getting my TA down. It's now 300. Lots of acid, lots of aerating, lots of acid, lots of aerating, the cycle continues. CYA is now at 30. The chlorine I put in last night put the FC up to 8, it is now 3 after being in the sun all day, and the water is a perfect 90 degrees! It's nice to know what to do to your water when it needs to be done.

Now it's time to grill...

I don't have anything to add about the O-ring. I think they're really tight to begin with. But mine is big enough that if I put it on the lid in the groove and then shake the lid, it'll fall right off. I know that's way too big! That's not fun trying to cram all that extra rubber in and get it seated with no leaks...

The deck? I was just informed by the boss that I'll be working on it this weekend. This oughta be interesting weekend...

Well, I'm glad you posted this, as this was the original reason I started this thread. So others could see almost exactly what's involved in the process. I didn't include all the cussing I did. I don't think I did a very good job on conveying how much actual work went into the restoration process. I may have showed how I restored something, but now multiply that by 30 or 50 pieces. Nor did I write how grumpy I got when the new sheet metal screws didn't grab the old metal holes quite right, or the duct tape wouldn't stick because it was too hot, or how the insert problem here didn't work quite right.

If you're only going to compare money saved to amount of work... Just buy a new pool! You'll make out like D.B. Cooper! There's an extreme amount of work involved! I floated around in the pool for two hours today. Literally, around and around and around... Must have good water circulation! ...and I was thinking, "Never again in my lifetime will I buy a used pool!" But at the same time, I'm glad I did. I've yet to do the grand total as I still have the deck to do, but I think I'm under $2000. Money you will save, but if you factor in your own labor you'll be far beyond the price of a brand new pool installed by someone else!

Now that I've said that... I have to say this; I've been to several threads around here about people putting in their own in ground pool. What I did is like a walk in the park compared to people like, say, Duraleigh and Henry Porter. They've done a LOT of work. Makes me sound like a wimp! (There's plenty more, but I remember those two as I just looked at them tonight!)

I'm not trying to put you off of the ideal of getting a used pool, plenty of people do it! Just make sure you do a reality check before doing it.

I'm still tryin' to figure out what my camera focused on in that last picture.. Doesn't look like it focused on anything! Blaah

Hey Barabra, No...don't have any Magic Lube...hubby greased her down with regular grease. Didn't seem to work to well. So.....this probabaly isn't a good thing, but he cut about an inch and a quarter out of the O ring and place it back in the seating leaving a 1/4" gap. The lid twisted right on and we have NO leaks & it isn't sucking air as far as I can tell. Everything seems to be working properly. I have got to get an O ring that fits properly. But this is working good for now.

Pump parts showed up today...

Split the housing and found nothing out of the ordinary. The impeller looked fine, nothing in the impeller. All 5 vanes were intact, no cracks, no chips, no hits, no runs, no errors. I'm at a loss. Put it back together with the new housing gasket. Same thing. It loses it's prime, and doesn't reprime. I did find a small sticker on it that said, "Self Priming" Pshaaaw!

Could the space between the impeller intake and the housing cover be warn and too far apart? I don't think I'd notice it if it were worn smoothly. This is the first one I've taken apart.

The new o-ring for the lid is wonderful though! Fits like an OJ glove! The lid now comes on and off like I thought it should've.

Hey Kias, Congratulations on both an excellent pool rebuild and thread. Your writing is entertaining and your problem solving ability makes me envious. You have written several times about the rust converter. What brand did you use? I need to pick up a bottle of that magic stuff.

Thanks

Thanks! I should probably get working on the deck, but I keep swimming instead...

I'm not sure what brand it was, I'll see if I have a bottle out in the barn when it gets lighter out. I got it at walmart in the auto paint section.

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Larry,we bought some at Walmart that is Rust-Oleum brand, Rust Reformer. It was $5 something. We found it in the paint section of the automotive area too. It worked nicely on a cast iron bench. It's in an 8 oz. bottle but a little goes a long way.

I coulden't have said it better myself