Pump dead on start-up - lasted 1 season/on salt pool

[KurtG]

I searched the web & archives and it would appear that salt or no salt should have little impact on pump life, but ours was dead after 1 season when I brought it out of storage yesterday.

The bearings were locked and the shaft pretty rusted. It was a Waterway 1.5 HP/dual speed.

I had drained, sprayed it with a whiff of WD-40 last September and had stored in our furnace/storage room for the winter.

I need to buy another but don't want to end up with another dead pump (or spend money on a good one if this is to be expected with salt).

salt? poor maintenance on my part??, bad pump????

 

[JasonLion]

That will normally only happen if the inside of the motor is constantly getting wet, either from a leaky shaft seal or from water spraying in from somewhere else (sprinkler, leaky pipe, etc).

 

[KurtG]

I have PVC hard plumbing. I was considering swapping the bad 1.5 hp/2 speed Waterways for a new Pentair Optiflow 1hp 2 speed. I'm having a bit of difficulty trying to figure how much plumbing work to expect matching the inlet & side discharge pipes. Or, should I just get another waterways and keep it simple (I'm worried there is some flaw suspect to the salt).

 

[JasonLion]

Salt is never a problem for the pump. Plumbing in a new pump isn't significantly more difficult if the height/alignment changes, unless you already have unions.

 

[KurtG]

Jason-
Thanks for responding. I went ahead an ended up ordering a Hayward power flo matrix 1 hp/2 speed. Noone seemed to have the Pentair in stock and I was looking for a reasonable (under $250) 2 speed pump. Upon further reading of the archives here there are other reports of similar Waterway failures of relatively new pumps. Ours was 2 months out of warranty.

 

[triplets&quads]

Our Waterway pump went after less than 3 years use. The bearing had been screeching to high heaven, we took the motor off to replace them but the shaft was rusted so bad it broke. I am going with a Hayward too.