Pool motor leak?

[chrisa]

Hi guys,
need some help and advice.
My husband is in Iraq so, I have been doing everything for the pool (which I normally did anyway)

when we moved here within the first two weeks we had a motor problem...at the time it had (I believe) the Hayward Super pump 1hp. The service call was covered under the home warranty. Pool repair guy comes out and slaps on a 34/HP Emerson (model: 1081 frame: 56J) and says its the same motor as the Hayward 1HP. It didn't seem right at the time but, was alone then too and the moving guys were here also delivering our furniture.

so, now its been over a year and a half and the Emerson was doing okay. I starting noticing a very slow leak (its been raining here so did not notice for several weeks). You can't even tell where its dripping from....so I'm guessing gaskets/seal???
the motor started making a odd/stressed noise the last couple days (not very loud) but, you could just tell it sounded just alittle off (but, oddly enough it sounded fine today)
I did call the 1st pool guy that put it on and he was going to come and replace the gasket/seal...and of course he never showed up. i had to call him twice just to get that appointment he flaked on

so, I broke down and called my regular pool guys (they installed our filter and did some plumbing for us). They came out and didn't hear the noise and didn't see the leaking (they did return a hour or so later to double check) and then found it leaking.
Their answer is to slap on a AO smith motor 1hp and the total cost of $490
they said most likely the 1st guy didn't even bother to change out the impeller....so, if I have a 1hp impeller and now a 3/4hp motor is that bad??? they said, it could wear out the motor.

I googled info about up-rated motors vs. full-rated motors and read about horsepower and service factor and how two differnt HP motors could actually be the same....so is that what the first pool guy was talking about???

I need to figure out, should I just go and order a new motor via the internet...I see the A.O. Smith 1hp motor frame: 56J for approx. $158...for some reason I'm thinking it might be just easier to put on a new motor just incase....the challenge of changing gaskets and bearings if needed, would not be my thing (I could save that for hubby)
but, I just don't know about the whole impeller thing...how do I tell if I have a 1hp impeller or 3/4??

and I want to make sure I order the right motor...the current Emerson says 1081. when I search A.O smith motor's they also have a 1081, do I need to get the 1081??

and would you guys even go with the A.O. Smith (2nd pool guys said they are better than the Emerson and are local to our area in Ohio)
or is this issue/project way past me and I should just cough up the $500?? just trying to save every dime so, we can go to Disneyland this Christmas (its the only thing thats really making my kids happy/excited while dad is gone)

okay, sorry this was so long.
thanks for any help and knowledge.

Chris

 

[vsyzer]

The Emerson 3/4 hp has a service factor of 1.5 which brings it to 1.125 and your hayward 1 hp probably had a service factor of 1.1 bringing it to 1.1 Seems like the Emerson 3/4 would be the stronger of the 2

As far as the leak goes, replacing the motor won't fix that, new seals should take care of that. You will be able to do all that yourself. A pool pump is probably one of the simplest pieces of equipment there is.

Good Luck

 

[spishex]

If the motor is only a year and a half old it would be worth taking to a motor repair shop to have the bearings replaced. They'll replace the shaft seal for you when they do the work. All you'll have to do is disconnect the wiring and the 4 bolts holding the motor/seal plate assembly to the wet end, then bring that in to them. They'll take it apart, replace the bearings (where the noise is coming from) and the seal and you'll be good to go. Around here that would cost about $100.

If you do that you should go ahead and replace the housing gasket while you're at it.

However you go about it, this isn't a $500 problem. Save that money for Mickey and Donald. :-D

 

[reebok]

spishex,
I've had my pump run dry a few times (oops) and the noise it makes when the bearings go bad is almost unbearable. it also doesn't come and go like she says it's doing. anyway, not second guessing you cause I know very little about motors, but how handy would you have to be to replace the bearings yourself? is that even an option?

 

[spishex]

Bearing noise can be minor at first. But normally once it starts, it goes downhill fast.

Replacing them on your own isn't an option unless you have a bearing puller. Even then it's a bit tricky to remove the shaft and put it back again without messing up something else on the motor. $30 for the tool, another $30 for a pair of bearings, and $10 for a seal, so the $100 to have it done isn't a bad deal.

 

[chrisa]

I spent most of early day calling around for prices to replace gaskets and bearings...price ranged on average in our area $160, still seemed pretty high.
I did find a place in Cincinnati who said between $60-80 and another 20 if they have to replace the impeller...so that sounded better.

yeah' I don't think I could handle doing the bearings but, after some reading I knew I could get the motor atleast removed.

I tried to flip it back on today and within acouple hours you could hear it starting to act up again (its not super loud but, you know its not running correctly).

I asked my neighbor if he knew about pool motors (he has a pool too) but, did not have much knowledge on bearings, etc.
but, his father-in-law was there (he was the original owner to my neighbor's house) and he knew the guy that lived in this house before us (so of course he had some knowledge on our house and pool)

so they both came over to investigate the motor issue. I flipped it back on and then they hear the odd noise (they agreeded it sounded off)
so I went ahead and switched of the circuit box to the motor and within 15mins they had the motor removed....you can now see where the leak was from the bottom of the motor between the impeller and motor...that the shaft seal right? they checked the impeller to make sure it was spinning and not stuck, it was moving okay.


so I will run the motor to Cinci. tomorrow (its 40mins away) but, atleast they were super nice and have way better prices than local guys.
I even call the guy who was suppose to come out this past tuesday (of course its just the phone girl) I had her call him and ask how much to get fixed if I just brought it in to them...she qouted $45 plus all parts....and maybe it would be done by Tuesday.
they are closer but, just the service was horrible...never even said sorry for not showing up

so I think the kids and I will just take a nice morning drive and hopefully they can get it fixed by Monday.

So hopefully this will fix it up for atleast awhile...everyone locally says that the Emerson is horrible, any thoughts?
and should I go ahead and start thinking about getting a new backup motor and would you go w/ the A.O. Smith?

thanks for all the help.
Chris

 

[reebok]

Thanks spishex. Chris, do you have any pool stores there? most of the ones around me do that kind of repair work. when I've had it done in the past it was $65.

 

[chrisa]

There are acouple pool type stores but, the only main one is Leslie's (I think I've only been in there twice).
It just seems locally, they want to get as much money as possible...seems crazy average quotes were in$140-!65 range but, call a bigger city and their prices for repair were more than half.
I guess being in Ohio we just don't have alot to choose from but, I'm glad you guys pointed me in the direction of a electrical motor repair shop, I was thinking only pool type shops before.


chris

 

[chrisa]

Got the motor back today (new gaskets and bearings $95 total) rushed home and got her reinstalled
seems to be working well now.

thanks again for the help.

Chris