Whisperflo odd noise?

[ozstuff]

Hello once again! I ended up losing everything on my old computer and couldnt remember what name I had used on here or email, lol! I'm back and full of questions this year!

We have a salt water pool, around 7 years old or so. This year we started it up and noticed an odd noise coming from the pump. Seemed to work fine for a few days and then last night we heard the strange noise. Its a Pentair Whisperflo 2hp pump. The pump will sound normal after I open and clean out the basket and then 30 seconds later, it gives off this odd noise. I will try to include a video with some audio to see if anyone has any ideas. Last year I noticed that the impeller screw and washer backed out and was in the bottom of the pump under the basket.

Thanks again!

Doug


here is a link to the video....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFtc2uj9 ... e=youtu.be

 

[ozstuff]

I just had a friend stop by and look at the pump. He said since the noise doesn't start until the water is flowing through the pump, he thinks that replacing the seals will fix the problem. I hope he is right and its not a motor bearing or a motor problem. He was also concerned that our pump was way oversized and costing us a bunch of extra money to run, our pool is around 14000 gallons and uses a Whisperflo 2hp pump which we run for around 6 hours a day during the summer time. Any ideas? Think I should just switch the pump out with a new one or try to fix it?

 

[JohnT]

Sorry but I can't check out the video. Is the pump strainer basket staying 100% full of water?

 

[ozstuff]

It does lose water when I clean out the basket and only close the IN valve before the pump. If I close both the in and out...coming out after sand filter and chlorinator, before cleaning the basket, the water stays in the pump until I open the valves and then it drops down a little until the pump gets going. Our equipment is above our pool by a couple feet and the run is about 20 feet to the pool.

I noticed that the sand filter will trap some air if the system turns off for a little while then gets going again. Guess I really never noticed that.

 

[ozstuff]

The sand filter is fine, no air now.. removed all the gaskets, cleaned/lubed/replaced. Now I am just waiting on the rebuild kit for the pump to show up in the mail. If that doesn't solve the noise problem I am switching out the pump for a 2 speed.

Any suggestions on what size pump to look into? Pool is around 14000 gallons and running a 2hp now.

Thanks