My pump melted itself and Pentair said it's not covered under warranty

[PaxDominicus]

My Pentair pump is only a few months old but it started leaking small amounts of water. I called Pentair and they sent someone to come check my pump since it was under warranty. The technician showed me where certain pieces of the pump had become damaged from over heating and he said the likely cause was the pump priming dry. I actually had my pump prime dry a few times after the pool was first installed but I know there was a mechanism that shut the pump off a few seconds of failing to prime. So with this mechanism in place, I asked him how the pump could have overheated. He then said it might have been that my pool water level was low, but I also explained that I had an auto-fill system and I've never seen the pool level drop. He didn't have any further explanations but simply said Pentair's warranty wouldn't cover it. I ended up have to pay for the service and parts out of pocket.

I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced this issue. It strike me as odd that Pentair can use this excuses for not honoring the warranty. I feel like they could pretty much blame user error for any warranty issue.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Pax

IntelliFlo pumps do not "melt" by themselves... When they do it is almost always not a pump issue.

My understanding is that what causes the pump to get hot enough to melt is not running without water, but running with water when the water has no place to go. This cause the impeller to heat up the water in the pump basket and when it gets hot enough it can disform the pump itself.

Let's see what @JamesW has to say about it.....

I have found that most of the time Pentair is more likely to approve a warranty repair even when there is a shade of grey in the decision, rather than not approve the warranty. You can always contact Pentair and ask for a review.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[JamesW]

I ended up have to pay for the service and parts out of pocket.

What parts were replaced?

What was your total cost?

Can you show exactly what parts were damaged?

What pump do you have?

 

[JamesW]

Why didn't your builder come out to check what happened since it was their installation?

 

[JamesW]

He didn't have any further explanations but simply said Pentair's warranty wouldn't cover it.

Maybe the service person did get paid by Pentair and they are just double billing you?

Maybe the service person recommended that they deny the warranty?

Check with Pentair to see if they really denied the warranty and exactly what the service person told them.

 

[98Poolmaster]

My Pentair pump is only a few months old but it started leaking small amounts of water. I called Pentair and they sent someone to come check my pump since it was under warranty. The technician showed me where certain pieces of the pump had become damaged from over heating and he said the likely cause was the pump priming dry. I actually had my pump prime dry a few times after the pool was first installed but I know there was a mechanism that shut the pump off a few seconds of failing to prime. So with this mechanism in place, I asked him how the pump could have overheated. He then said it might have been that my pool water level was low, but I also explained that I had an auto-fill system and I've never seen the pool level drop. He didn't have any further explanations but simply said Pentair's warranty wouldn't cover it. I ended up have to pay for the service and parts out of pocket.

I'd like to know if anyone else has experienced this issue. It strike me as odd that Pentair can use this excuses for not honoring the warranty. I feel like they could pretty much blame user error for any warranty issue.

What city and state is the pool in?What pump do you have?What parts were damaged?

 

[PaxDominicus]

What parts were replaced?
1 Whisperflo impeller
1 Pentair Seal plate with shaft seal

What was your total cost?
$443.48 with labor

Can you show exactly what parts were damaged?
I only took a picture of the impeller and not the plate. You can't see some of the damage in this photo but the installer showed me what the replacement part looked like and the shapes were different. He said it heated up so much that it actually changed the shape of the impeller.


What pump do you have?
PEN011056 230V Intelliflo Pump

Why didn't your builder come out to check what happened since it was their installation?
My builder told me it was a warranty issue and to contact Pentair. Pentair sent the contracted technician.

Maybe the service person did get paid by Pentair and they are just double billing you?
Pentair emailed me and said the work order was canceled.

Maybe the service person recommended that they deny the warranty?
Yup.


Check with Pentair to see if they really denied the warranty and exactly what the service person told them.
I'll do that just in case.

What city and state is the pool in?
Austin, Texas

 

[JamesW]

My builder told me it was a warranty issue and to contact Pentair. Pentair sent the contracted technician.

That's lame as the builder should have helped you since it was less than 1 year old.

Pentair emailed me and said the work order was canceled.

What does this mean?

In any case, it looks like the pump ran dry for a long time, which can melt the parts.

It is probably not a warranty item for Pentair, but I would want and expect the builder to help you figure out why the pump ran dry.

 

[98Poolmaster]

That's lame as the builder should have helped you since it was less than 1 year old.

What does this mean?

In any case, it looks like the pump ran dry for a long time, which can melt the parts.

It is probably not a warranty item for Pentair, but I would want and expect the builder to help you figure out why the pump ran dry.

This one seems a little suspicious I would think the builder would want to step up usually Pentair out of good faith will go ahead and warranty things like this mainly if that contractor did a lot of work with them I thinks James may be correct about the double billing scenario

 

[1poolman1]

What parts were replaced?
1 Whisperflo impeller
1 Pentair Seal plate with shaft seal

What was your total cost?
$443.48 with labor

Can you show exactly what parts were damaged?
I only took a picture of the impeller and not the plate. You can't see some of the damage in this photo but the installer showed me what the replacement part looked like and the shapes were different. He said it heated up so much that it actually changed the shape of the impeller.
View attachment 543067

What pump do you have?
PEN011056 230V Intelliflo Pump

Why didn't your builder come out to check what happened since it was their installation?
My builder told me it was a warranty issue and to contact Pentair. Pentair sent the contracted technician.

Maybe the service person did get paid by Pentair and they are just double billing you?
Pentair emailed me and said the work order was canceled.

Maybe the service person recommended that they deny the warranty?
Yup.
View attachment 543068

Check with Pentair to see if they really denied the warranty and exactly what the service person told them.
I'll do that just in case.

What city and state is the pool in?
Austin, Texas

That type of damage is never covered under anyone's warranty as it is out of the control of a manufacturer. Some, trying to get some "good will," will honor it, but they don't have to. It is definitely a pump that has run dry for quite a while, I've seen that in every brand of pump at least 100 times over the years.
Most important thing to do now is find out why it ran dry. Was the skimmer basket clogged? Suction plumbing clogged? Pump basket clogged? Skimmer weir stuck closed? Is there a large suction leak at the front of the pump? At a valve? Was a valve improperly closed? With that much damage, unless high-temp unions were used, both the inlet and outlet plumbing fittings can have damage. At higher temperatures like that pump experienced, even high-temp unions can be damaged.

 

[98Poolmaster]

That type of damage is never covered under anyone's warranty as it is out of the control of a manufacturer. Some, trying to get some "good will," will honor it, but they don't have to. It is definitely a pump that has run dry for quite a while, I've seen that in every brand of pump at least 100 times over the years.
Most important thing to do now is find out why it ran dry. Was the skimmer basket clogged? Suction plumbing clogged? Pump basket clogged? Skimmer weir stuck closed? Is there a large suction leak at the front of the pump? At a valve? Was a valve improperly closed? With that much damage, unless high-temp unions were used, both the inlet and outlet plumbing fittings can have damage. At higher temperatures like that pump experienced, even high-temp unions can be damaged.

In this situation it really comes down to your area Pentair rep wanting to help you out each rep has a yearly budget that allows them to pick and choose at their discretion who they want to help that’s the reality of it I have dealt with Pentair for over 23 years and I have developed relationships with them and their regional managers and they have rarely not helped me but that comes with many years of loyalty to the brand and long term relationships with them it’s unfortunate but that’s how the manufacturers do things and don’t really want that to be known but it honestly is

 

[JoyfulNoise]

Just to state what hasn’t been made clear - the IntelliFlo pumps will detect loss of prime and not just shut off. They will typically run at priming speed to try to reestablish prime and then stop after a short time, rest, and run again. This cycle will repeat quite a bit before the pump finally gives up. That said, the IF pumps have various parameters that can be changed to set the priming speed, the detection threshold, and, if memory serves, how long the pump will continue to try to prime itself. Those values are typically factory set to maximize the protection of the pump but they can be changed. Usually a failed prime will result in a latched lock-out of the pump controls until the pump is reset with a power cycle. So, as others have said, you need to find out why your pump is losing prime and make sure that the priming parameters are set so that the pump doesn’t destroy itself.

 

[Bill1974]

A seal running dry and overheating isn't a problem with the pump. I can understand why it was not covered. Since it worked for a while, it's an end user issue. Did the tech figure out the root cause? Likely a valve not being in the correct position or the pump cover not closed (vacuum leak), plugged skimmer basket, etc is the root cause. It doesn't take much time running dry (completely dry less than a minute) to ruin the seal (I am a mechanical engineer and have used these type of seals in dental liquid ring vacuum pumps), but it does take some time to ruin other parts around it.

 

[JamesW]

Basic seals have Buna Elastomers, a Phenolic (Plastic) Primary Ring and a Ceramic Seat. Theses are junk due to the primary ring composition. Also, the ceramic seat is not polished, which creates more friction.

Ozone/Salt Seals.​

"Ozone/salt" seals have Viton Elastomers, a Carbon Primary Ring and a Polished Ceramic Seat. These are acceptable.

Best Quality Seals.​

The best seals have Viton Elastomers, a Silicon Carbide Primary Ring and a Silicon Carbide Seat.

The plastic primary ring seals will melt a lot faster than the carbon primary ring seals or silicon carbide primary ring seals.

Carbon or silicon carbide can sometimes run dry for a long time without damage.

Plastic will begin to get hot and melt fairly quickly and then this will cause collateral damage to the seal plate and impeller.

The biggest issue is why didn't the builder help since this is a new installation?