Need to rebuild pump. Advice?

[guamguy]

Well, long story short, my spa pump, a Sta-Rite dura-glas 1.5HP, has started leaking from around the seal where the pump housing splits in half under the band clamp. I've purchased the seal kit with the mechanical seal and the o-rings. It all looks pretty strightforeward. Can you rebuild these things in place, or do you need to remove the plumbing from the pump? The way the pump is plumbed in, it seems to look like a big pain to get it out BTW, the pump still works fine, and it only leaks when it's off, and when you start it, a bunch of water shoots out.

 

[ntrsandman]

Looking at a picture, it appears the pump/front half is one piece. and the inlet and outlet are part of it. IF you can remove the clamp and the motor from the mounting base and leave the pump, you should be ok. However, if you have unions in the plumbing to disconnect the pump, I would recommend taking the whole unit out so the repair is easier to perform. If you do not have unions, this may be a good time to install them. Making repairs on pumps while they are installed is no fun no matter how easy they are to get to. Oh yeah. remember to shut the power off at the breaker and take note of electrical connections.

 

[poolrec]

I prefer to change seals and orings in place. It makes the repair so much quicker. I do not like to replumb pumps.

 

[guamguy]

It does look easy enough to do the repairs with the pump in place. It looks like there is enough room in the pumphouse for me to sqeeze in between the pump and the filter to do the work. On the return side of the pump, there is a union on the pipe, but on the suction side, there is no union untill you get to the suction valve, which is about 3 or 4 feet away Maybe I'll put one in since I'll be working in there anyways, not to mention adding a check valve so the spa doesn't drain into the pool every time I shut off the pump and forget to close the valve