Pump motor getting very loud

[Paul G]

I have an inground pool, 16,000 gallons, Pentair Whisper Flow pump. model WFE-6, 1 1/2 HP. About 4 years old. It is getting louder every week. The drive end motor bearing is going south. I had the motor off and checked the bearings. The drive end bearing has some looseness in it. I can probably just replace the bearings in the motor, but could I upsize from my 1 1/2 HP motor to a 2 HP with out causing any problems?

I had a solar heater installed this summer. The Solar guy said my 1 1/2 HP will do it, but a 2 HP would be better. It is using 2" piping up to the roof, (single story, on the garage roof, maybe 75' of pipe up to the roof and 75' back) 2" piping at the pump but gets smaller after the in floor unit.

Can I up size to a bigger motor, or even should I? I have found AO Smith 2 HP motors rated at full rate (B748), and up-rate (B855). What is the difference?

 

[Bama Rambler]

You don't need a 2hp pump for that equipment. Besides you can't just up the motor without upping the impeller and since that most likely won't fit in the housing you'd be better off just buying a new pump. But the fact remains that you don't need a bigger pump.

Give us a list of all the equipment and we can tell more about your system and can better assist you with what you need to do.

Most likely, nothing but change the bearings in the motor you have.

 

[Paul G]

I decided to take your advice and just put new bearings in my 1 1/2 HP motor. It is nice and quiet now. My motor was only pulling 7.2 amps, rated for 8.8. Upsizing just the motor would do nothing for me since my motor was not even running at full load.

Thanks.