Cracked Jandy housing screw holes

[dabramet]

Hello. I found a crack in one of the screw holes in my Jandy valve. I posted three photos: the whole equipment setup, a close up on the valve area, and a close close up on the cracked screw hole.

I haven't seen any pump problems yet. The pump seems to work fine, suction and pressure side flow is good, and nothing is leaking. There is always a small amount of air I can release at the filter valve, but this is normal, right? The only other odd this is that my filter seems to run clean at only 2-3 PSI.

I'm new to pool ownership, this came with my house I bought 4 months ago, so I've been trying to educate myself. For a while I didn't know how to use the Jandy valve and had the handle kept too tight while turning it. I don't know how old my equipment is or if the cracks were there before I took over.

Any advice for me? I'm worried that something will go badly eventually with this crack.

 

[ajw22]

The Jandy valve should be ok with the cracked screw hole until you need to open it up for any reason. Then you may not be able to tighten the top against the O ring without a leak.

Your pump has no unions. If you eventually need to replace the pump then replace the valve.

 

[Jimrahbe]

da,

I am also surprised that your filter pressure is so low... Low pressure is not bad, as long as you have a strong flow back to the pool at the return eyeballs. I would suspect a bad gauge or maybe no cartridge inside the tank...

I agree with Allen, as long it is not leaking, just leave the valve alone..

As a side note.. Any pool builder, who brings pool plumbing up through the concrete, should be put in prison doing nothing but breaking up concrete...

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[dabramet]

Thanks Jim. When I first got the home, the gauge was old and broken. I replaced it and pressure went to 20 psi. After a thorough cleaning of the cartridge it went down to 2 psi. I replaced the gauge again after it got foggy only a few weeks later. Then I cleaned the cartridge again and now I’m waiting to see if the pressure rises again after some time. It’s winter and no one is using the pool, and I have a robotic cleaner and a solar breeze nx surface cleaner, so maybe it will take a while for the filter to get dirty again?

 

[dabramet]

Thanks for the advice on the valve, IÂ’ll leave it alone for now. Funny thing, I discovered around the house another valve with a cracked cover plate and a new housing. Looks like the previous owner replaced the cover plate and maybe decided it was too much hassle and money to replace the whole valve, given the lack of pipe above ground for re plumbing it?

 

[JamesW]

The top looks like it was replaced. The person who replaced it probably cross-threaded the screw.

The motor looks like it has also been replaced. Do you have a picture of the motor label?

What is the model number on the pump?

The pump model number should be on a silver tag near the top of the main body clamp.

It should start with something like P2R or PEA.

 

[dabramet]

Here's the label on the motor. I'll upload the silver tag separately, i reached my file size limit here.

The top looks like it was replaced. The person who replaced it probably cross-threaded the screw.

The motor looks like it has also been replaced. Do you have a picture of the motor label?

What is the model number on the pump?

The pump model number should be on a silver tag near the top of the main body clamp.

It should start with something like P2R or PEA.

 

[dabramet]

Here's the silver tag model number, its hard to read it but I keep getting an error message saying I went over my limit for images. It's "P4E6E - 1S1L"

The top looks like it was replaced. The person who replaced it probably cross-threaded the screw.

The motor looks like it has also been replaced. Do you have a picture of the motor label?

What is the model number on the pump?

The pump model number should be on a silver tag near the top of the main body clamp.

It should start with something like P2R or PEA.

 

[mknauss]

To upload pictures you need to either use a third party hosting site and paste the IMG files in your post or for more TFP server space.

 

[JamesW]

Introduction of a new standard date code was implemented in August of 2006 that will eventually be used on all A. O. Smith product. The first three characters represent the day of the year, the next two the year, and the last two the plant code. For example, 12306M, would mean the 123rd day of 2006 (12306) manufactured in A. O. Smith’s plant (4M).


The first space is the plant code. The second letter is the month. And, the third and fourth spaces are the year.
Example: “8A05” = Plant 8, January 2005
A. O. Smith Serial Number (Date Codes):
2000 is “00”
2001 is “01”
2002 is “02”
2003 is “03”
2004 is “04”
2005 is “05”
A = January
B = February
C = March
D = April
E = May
F = June
G = July
H = August
I = September
J = October
K = November
L = December

Your motor is prior to August of 2006.

 

[dabramet]

Wow, thanks! So the motor is at least 13 years old. What's the normal life of these motors?

Your motor is prior to August of 2006.

 

[JamesW]

The pump is a P4E6E-151L, which is a Max-e-Glas pump.

It's a 1 hp pump with a 1.65 service factor. So, it's really a 1.65 hp total hp pump.

The motor was made September of 2003.

The motor is a replacement. So, the pump is older than the motor.

Today, motors are made very cheaply. They typically don't last more than a few years.

Before AO Smith was bought in 2011, they made very good motors that would last for many years.

The pump should be generating at least 10 psi on that filter.

I would suspect that the impeller might be clogged or maybe the suction is clogged or the gauge might be bad.

Is the basket sitting correctly and is it clean?

Maybe get a 1/4" npt vacuum gauge to screw into the drain port to check the suction. The gauge has brass threads and the pump has plastic threads. So, you have to be careful not to overstress the plastic or it can crack.

The pipe to the right of the valve is closed. Is that the main drain?

Maybe the line is closed because the cracked screw hole leaks air when it's open?

 

[dabramet]

I would suspect that the impeller might be clogged or maybe the suction is clogged or the gauge might be bad.

Is the basket sitting correctly and is it clean?

The pump basket is clean and sitting correctly with the hole facing the incoming pipe. I've checked it a few times, it's always pretty clean, but I've never checked the impeller for debris, I need to do that, thanks! The gauge is new, I just installed it last weekend. It sits at zero when the system is off and jumps to 2-3 psi once turned on.

Maybe get a 1/4" npt vacuum gauge to screw into the drain port to check the suction.

Pardon my ignorance, but what and where is the "drain port"? I'd love to measure the suction, that makes a lot of sense to do.

The pipe to the right of the valve is closed. Is that the main drain?

The pipe on the right is the side port cleaner. I keep it closed because I don't use the cleaner, I have a Dolphin Premier instead. The main and skimmer lines meet at the skimmer box and reach the pump together in the same line.

 

[JamesW]

There are 2 drain plugs. One is at the bottom of the pump strainer housing.

You can see it in the picture.

The other one is back a few inches on the impeller housing.

The plugs are used to drain the pump for winterizing.

If you remove the pump basket, you might be able to feel the impeller by sticking your finger in the hole going to the impeller.

Make sure that the power is off at the breaker and the switch before reaching into the hole.

 

[dabramet]

Ah, I didn't know about the drain on the impeller housing, thank you. I'll check that out tonight when I get home.

There are 2 drain plugs. One is at the bottom of the pump strainer housing.

You can see it in the picture.

The other one is back a few inches on the impeller housing.

The plugs are used to drain the pump for winterizing.

 

[dabramet]

Just following up here. I tried cleaning out the impeller with my fingers and a screwdriver via the pump and didn’t find any debris at all.

Thanks for mentioning the drain plugs. I opened them and found disintegrated o-rings on them, so I replaced those.

Filter pressure increased slightly to about 5 psi. I still think I have a small air leak somewhere, maybe via the valve screw holes, since air does seem to accumulate in the filter, but I don’t get any bubbles in the pool so I don’t know.

 

[robl45]

Unscrew. Lots of jbweld on hole. After dry maybe another coat and then line up cover and drill hole a little smaller than screw. Should be fine. Had almost the same issue 10 years or so ago.

 

[dabramet]

Another update - I replaced the ancient yellowed pump basket lid with a new one and that let me see where the air was coming into the pump. Looked to me like air bubbles were coming in via the lid/o-ring seal. So I re-lubed the ring and tried to get it to fit a little better and that seemed to work, the air bubbles went away. I probably should replace the o-ring too.