Part broke off front of booster pump motor... need whole new motor?

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Option

Option

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Feb 2, 2017
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Sacramento/CA
Hello, I recently noticed that my PB-4 (1994-2011 model) was a lot louder than normal and the pitch had changed a bit (no grinding or squealing though). When I investigated, I found that the pump section was leaking some water into the housing that connects the pump to the motor. I also found a washer-shaped piece in the housing which appears to have broken off from the face of the motor. I can replace the pump seals to fix the leak but I'm guessing that won't help with the increased noise volume and I'm not sure what to make of the washer thing that broke off. Can anyone tell me if that washer piece could be causing the extra loud noise? If so, can it be fixed or does the motor need to be replaced? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

PS - Aside from the leak and noise, the pump appears to be operating normally as my pool sweep is working as normal.
 

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"Washer-shaped" piece is the water-slinger, a rubber disc designed to help keep water out of the front bearings. They are on the motor shaft and usually sit right in front of the motor end-bell. They get hard and split like that after a while. That pump is now 23+ years old. The seal has been leaking for quite a while as evidenced by the corrosion on the front of the motor, especially at the vent. The loud noise is the front bearing telling you that it is done. The pump has done its job and needs to be retired.
 
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1poolman1 said:
"Washer-shaped" piece is the water-slinger, a rubber disc designed to help keep water out of the front bearings. They are on the motor shaft and usually sit right in front of the motor end-bell. They get hard and split like that after a while. That pump is now 23+ years old. The seal has been leaking for quite a while as evidenced by the corrosion on the front of the motor, especially at the vent. The loud noise is the front bearing telling you that it is done. The pump has done its job and needs to be retired.
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Thank you so much for the thorough explanation! Doing a little research online, I looks like I can get a replacement motor and pump seals for about 1/2 the price of a entire new pump. Would that be a reasonable option or would you recommend a complete pump replacement at twice the cost?
 
Option said:
Thank you so much for the thorough explanation! Doing a little research online, I looks like I can get a replacement motor and pump seals for about 1/2 the price of a entire new pump. Would that be a reasonable option or would you recommend a complete pump replacement at twice the cost?
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You need to be sure that the impeller and bracket are in good shape. Many times on that pump it has run dry and the impeller get damaged from the heat. The bracket, that holds the seal, can also be damaged, though that is less frequent. I have always looked to repair a customer's equipment if possible, but booster pumps always seemed to need replacing unless it was just a seal leak.

New pump gets you a warranty and new hose kit.
 
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Thanks again! The current hoses are actually pretty new but I hear what you're saying about how the pump side may be worn/damaged. I assume that without a lot of experience, I wouldn't be able to adequately diagnose the condition of the impeller?

It might be worth the piece of mind to just get a whole new unit. Especially since your experience suggests they almost alway need replacement.
 
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So it looks like I can't get a new PB4 where I live (outlawed in CA) but my buddy works for a pool equipment supplier and can get me a good deal on a Pentair Hydroboost. Would that be an acceptable replacement for powering my Polaris 380 pool sweep? (I notice the Pentair is 1hp vs the 0.75hp of my old motor) If so, can anyone chime in on if that's that a good booster pump? Thanks again!!
 
Sorry, this isn't my area of expertise so forgive me if I'm not interpreting the graphs right but it seems like they're showing that the Pentair requires much less energy to achieve higher flow rates (which makes sense since it's supposed to be a more efficient pump). However, I'm not sure what that means for my pool sweep. The pool sweep works well with my current pump but I'm wondering if the Pentair will provide too much pressure or maybe not enough?
 

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Option said:
So it looks like I can't get a new PB4 where I live (outlawed in CA) but my buddy works for a pool equipment supplier and can get me a good deal on a Pentair Hydroboost. Would that be an acceptable replacement for powering my Polaris 380 pool sweep? (I notice the Pentair is 1hp vs the 0.75hp of my old motor) If so, can anyone chime in on if that's that a good booster pump? Thanks again!!
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I think the Polaris cleaners are high head applications with a restrictor disk and small hose.

The Polaris pump at 100 feet of head will give close to 20GPM of flow.

The Hydroboost pump at the same 100 feet of head may do 14GPM.

At a minimum you may need to change the restrictor disk in your UWF to get the 28-30 RPM of wheel rotation Polaris recommends. And if you have lower wheel RPM due to less water pressure the cleaner will not climb the walls and move around the pool as designed. Especially as the cleaner ages and the bearings get more friction.

I would look for a pump that more matches the PB4-60 performance curve or smuggle one in.
 
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ajw22 said:
I think the Polaris cleaners are high head applications with a restrictor disk and small hose.

The Polaris pump at 100 feet of head will give close to 20GPM of flow.

The Hydroboost pump at the same 100 feet of head may do 14GPM.

At a minimum you may need to change the restrictor disk in your UWF to get the 28-30 RPM of wheel rotation Polaris recommends. And if you have lower wheel RPM due to less water pressure the cleaner will not climb the walls and move around the pool as designed. Especially as the cleaner ages and the bearings get more friction.

I would look for a pump that more matches the PB4-60 performance curve or smuggle one in.
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From what I'm reading online, the Polaris 380 needs 64-74 ft head and 15 GPM. Based on the graphs provided above, it looks like both pumps are capable of achieving this but the PB4 does have more headroom making 110 ft head @ 15 GPM vs 90 ft head for the Pentair Hydroboost. On a side note, I never knew about the restrictor discs and after checking just now, I can see that no restrictor is currently installed in my UWF.
 
JamesW said:
Booster pumps are designed to work about the same, so I would think that the Hydroboost would be acceptable.
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Yeah, I would assume you're probably right but I'd hate to spend the money and do the install and find out that the sweep no longer works as well. It would be nice to know if anyone is using a Hydroboost with the 380 sweep.
 

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