Is my pump going or bad impeller?

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L

LotusRacerX

0
Jul 25, 2012
101
Georgia
My pump is making a sort of rattling noise, my salt cell has an air bubble in it, and small bubbles are coming out of the jets.
I suspect it is the pump, tried to upload a short video, but I guess it was not short enough.
Do I need to do the impeller at the same time, regardless?
 
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You sure your pump is not cavitating due to the air in the pump?

A bad impeller would not cause air bubbles. The air bubbles need to be coming from a suction side air leak.

I would start by checking the water level in your skimmers and the weir door on your skimmers. Then check for suction side air leaks...

www.troublefreepool.com

Suction Side Air Leaks

If you see air bubbles coming out of the return lines in your pool, you likely have a leak. Some signs that a suction side plumbing leak has occurred include: Read more
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

Do you get the same behaviors on high speed and low speed on your pump?
 
I actually don't use low speed, since I installed that pump years ago. The low speed was not strong enough to prime and get the air cleared out of the basket. I think I underbought, replacing a 3/4 single speed with a 3/4 dual speed.

Bubbles in basket are minimal right now, like just a little bit.

OK, went outside and ran some experiments, closed off each skimmer input, one at a time, none made any difference.
Then I took out the pump basket and cleaned it. It was not too bad, but worth a try.

Now, instead of just 2 bubbles bouncing around the basket, I have a huge air gap that won't clear!

Even a 3 second video is too large to upload.
 
Do you use Pool Lube on the pump lid O ring?

Check the condition of the pump lid O ring.

You can't upload videos to this site. Put them on YouTube and post a link to it.

Pool Lube - Further Reading

www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com
 
Thanks Allen!

Seems I have never lubed those gaskets on the pump lid. They were hugely deformed, and I will replace them asap.
I now have a bubble-free pump basket.

My original problem remains though...not enough flow to keep the salt cell full, and bubbles coming from the pool jets. (Not a ton of bubbles, just an effervescence.)
 
LotusRacerX said:
Thanks Allen!

Seems I have never lubed those gaskets on the pump lid. They were hugely deformed, and I will replace them asap.
I now have a bubble-free pump basket.
Click to expand...

Ok, that is progress.

LotusRacerX said:
My original problem remains though...not enough flow to keep the salt cell full, and bubbles coming from the pool jets. (Not a ton of bubbles, just an effervescence.)
Click to expand...

Your bad pump O ring may still be sucking in air. So wait and see if things change after you replace the O ring and lube it.

The SWG generates hydrogen bubbles when it is generating. Turn off the SWG and see if the bubble situation changes.
 
Well, I guess I did a pretty good job with the bad o-ring, because the new one is doing no better.
I have the SWG switched off anyhow, since it is not quite filling up, yet the flow sensor is happy. Don't want any arcing going on in there.
The guy at Leslie's said to take a look at my spider gasket, as I reported to him some sucking sounds from there when changing modes.
That's my next move. To pull and inspect that.
 
You are not going to get any arcing from the SWG. The voltage and amperage is not very high.

What SWG do you have?

What is your filter PSI?

When did you last backwash your filter?

Post pics of your equipment pad and show us how your SWG cell is mounted.
 
Yup, spider valve is shot:

Only 1 of the "legs" still has its raised center line...all others are flat.

Does this make sense, or do I have more problems?
 

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Fix the problems you know about and then see how things work.
 

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That cell is like the Hayward Aquarite cell. Make sure that the cell hump is pointing down. At lower flow, air or gasses produced during generation can get trapped in the hump if it's pointing up and reduce plate exposure.

See 6:38 into AquaRite AquaRite Pro Installation/Start Up - YouTube

If the plates are not fully submerged, the production will be reduced.
 
Isn't the lower flow an issue, regardless of how I orient the cell? If my impeller/motor is failing I think I need to address that.
I've been keeping the cell wires-up, since the instructions for the cell cleaning stand also call for keeping it wires up.
Must be some sort of electronics where the wire enters, don't you think?
 
No, you are over thinking things. Turn your cell over and all will be fine.

With a .75 HP pump you cannot get as much flow as folks with larger pump. The cell housing is much larger then the pipes and a slow flow is not going to fill it.
 
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Glad they found that.

Do you use a vacuum in your pool that sucks debris into the filter?

You should still rotate the cell hump down.
 
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I leave the skimmer basket in place when I vacuum. The pump basket had little debris in it. That junk may have come from some time ago.
Pool guy commented on how weak my jets were, which I have also noticed for a few months, but its been winter, so did not pay it much mind.
 
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