very loud noise while pump is on

[robintkd]

I have a Hayward super 2 pump, cartridge filter, 1hp, brand new Emerson motor which is exactly the motor I had prior.

I also needed to fix the leak at the pump hole closest to motor. In doing so, I was not able to stop the leak so I called a professional. He wanted and would not accept what I wanted him to do which was put a fitting over the 2" port instead of inside the port. His solution was to replace the jandy valve because there was not enough space inside the port hole to put the 2" pipe. I told him to get a fitting to fit over my jandy valve port but he wanted to replace the jandy and some piping. You know make more $$.. What he did was: he replaced my old 2" 3-way jandy valve, which worked great, with a 1½" 3-way jandy. My older jandy valve is also much larger in size. With that new jandy valve, he put the 2" pipes over the ports which I requested with my old valve in the first place. Guess it was easier to get a smaller valve so he could put the 2" piping over the valve.

The leak was repaired however there was a noise much much louder than previously ran with old motor and no leaks.

Question: is the new 1½" 3way valve the problem to the very loud noise or the motor? Remember, the replaced motor is the exact make and model as previous. Also, the noises seem to be from the water going through the pipes or maybe the motor itself, I don't know!. Is this the jandy's fault??

 

[OldPoolMan]

Yes, he replaced your old Jandy valve with a smaller one, 2" to 1 1/2". The louder noise can be caused by the pump cavitation due to less suction.

 

[Agent99]

I hope you still have your 2" Jandy valve. You can still use it by either heating up the valve to remove the glued-in pipe or do, like you said, and use a 2.5" fitting to glue to the outside of the Jandy valve. You lost almost 50% of the cross-sectional area dropping from 2" to 1.5" valve. This increases the back-pressure at this point and if right there at your pump, probably not a good idea.

 

[robintkd]

Thanks. I called the company that replaced it all and they said the smaller jandy works just fine dispite the louder noise. You have any suggestions on what to say to the company other than saying: i got advice by 2 pool pros that im losing suction due to smaller jandy valve and want it done correctly? Also can u tell me a little detail so I sound smarter than an average pool owner would???

 

[robintkd]

Also, they told me that I may have an air leak somewhere in my pipes and to possibly get my Polaris sweeper maintenanced. So I checked for air leaks from my filter, above ground piping & the pump itself. I have no air leaks. What do u think? Should I call them back and tell them to come back out and use my jandy and telling them I have no air leaks? I really dislike companies who take advantage of people due to them not knowing what the problems are as well as im sick of not being heard by men who judge me because i am a woman. I know a lot about a lot and i can fix this problem myself, however, i didnt and dont have the time to do so. I want to be able to inform them that im right and i want it repaired the way i want it done which is the right way. Please help so i can dazzel them into doing their job correctly. Oh, and they keep repeating themselves by saying 'we have been in business building and maintaining thousands of pools in the last 20 years and never have had problems with their performance with repairing issues with pools', yet here is a problem. Again, I'm asking for details on what to tell them so I sound like a smart dude, thanks everyone

 

[Agent99]

They probably did the repair that was the fastest for them and not necessarily the best for your system. They didn't wish to spend the extra time to make the 2" valve work I'm guessing.

In rereading your first post, it sounds like they replaced the valve closest to your pump, right? Jandy 2" valves, as you know, can take a pipe glued inside the valve or a 2.5" fitting glued to the outside of the port. That is why they are referred to as a 2-2.5" valve and similarly, I believe, the have 1.5-2" valve: 1.5" inside and 2" outside.

What is this 3-way valve switching between? Skimmer and MD perhaps or two skimmers or ?

Regardless, if you read just about any of the manuals from the major pump manufacturers (Hayward, Pentair, etc.), they will tell you that the pipe feeding into the pump needs to be a nice straight pipe around 5x in length the diameter of the pipe feeding it. So a 2" port on the pump would like to see 10" of straight 2" (or larger) pipe into it. The reason for this is ensure that as large a volume of quiet smoothly flowing water as possible flows into the pump while it is trying to prime. They don't want elbows close to the inlet because they have higher friction (i.e. the pump as to work harder to overcome the friction) and they also disturb smooth water flow. Certainly they don't want a smaller pipe and/or valve feeding into the pump than exists in the suction system of the pool as this does the same thing as that elbow--higher friction not to mention decreased water flow that the pump is trying to prime with. If your suction plumbing is 2", then all the pipe and fittings and valves and such should be at least 2". (As an aside, sometimes return plumbing could be smaller. My suction pipe is 2" and return pipe is 1.5", for example).

My point is that the first 10-16" of plumbing coming into the pump is the most critical area to ensure smooth, high volume water into the pump so that the pump primes the quickest and works the easiest and as you are noting, runs quieter. For my pump and 2" suction side plumbing, I actually used 12" of 2.5" pipe to feed into the pump and glued a 2.5" fitting to the outside of my 2-2.5" 3-way Jandy valve. The Pentair tech guy who recommended this told me it'll allow the pump to prime faster (therefore last longer) AND it would run quieter. My pump primes in under 10 s.

You were right to insist them using the 2.5" side of the Jandy valve to plumb in the new pump. Too bad you didn't stick to your guns and say: "Do it my way or I'll find someone else who will."

Good luck...I hope you can get them to right this wrong.

 

[robintkd]

Awesome! What about the other end of pump where the water from pump goes out into the valve which leads to Sweeper and Filter? That 2" valve was replaced with a 1½" valve which is where the unfamiliar loud noise is coming from. I can hear the water going into the valve caused by losing friction as u said. My 2" valve of course made some noise but nothing like now. So, I will need to put my 2" valve back on which will eliminate the friction & noise, right?

Thank u so much for your help

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