Hi TFP, I’m new to the board and would appreciate anyone’s advice, I’ve always maintained my own pool and I can’t count how many times I’ve come here and found great information. I have some limited experience with pools, but I’m still somewhat of a novice when it comes to diagnosing problems with the pump/motor.
A friend of mine has been having a couple pool issues (Phx, AZ). We are having a pool guy come check it out, but I thought I’d seek the advice from this site as well. He just moved into his house (4 days ago) and he has an 11,000 IG play pool with an attached hot tub, both run off of a STA-P4E6G2 HP Max-E-Glas Pump, sand filter (the pool figures in my signature don’t apply to this situation, I’m sure I’ll be back for advice on mine soon). When he moved in, the spa looked terrible, completely brown and it looked like the water hadn’t been circulated in months. He noticed that the 3 way Jandy valve for the spa inlet was turned to off, so he turned it to the middle so the pump would pull from both the pool and spa skimmers.
When the pump automatically turned on that night it was much louder than normal so he ran out and shut the system off. He couldn’t be exactly sure, but didn’t think it was running like that for any more than a few minutes. He said it was so loud he could hear it over the A/C inside the house and when he was outside he had to yell to hear his fiancé, and that it sounded like the pump was running dry. He shut it off, and noticed that the pump (or motor? He wasn’t sure) smelled hot, but it wasn’t smoking or leaking.
I’ve personally never had a spa and pool running off the same plumbing, so I’ve never had to deal with it, but I remember reading one time that you only want to return water to connected spas so it over flows into the pool, you don’t want to have the pump pulling from the spa. I could be wrong but I thought that may have been his issue, the pump couldn’t pull enough water from the spa, and that ran it dry. But the valve was set to run from both the pool and spa tho (I’m not very familiar with his system yet)
He knew I was somewhat familiar with pools so I came out, primed the pump and reset the valve to the pool skimmer before I turned it on. It struggled for a few seconds, but it primed it after about 15-20 seconds and seemed to be running fine. Nothing was leaking, smoking or anything like that, I didn’t even notice a smell.
I checked all the returns and the skimmer, and everything was pulling and returning like it should. My friend’s fiancé thought that it sounded louder than before. I had heard the pump the first day he moved in (I helped him move), and it does seem slightly louder, but I don’t trust my memory. Not a rattle or whine, just louder than before the night it got hot. My (inexperienced) guess is that when the pump/motor was dry and got hot, the shaft seal went out, thus causing the pump to sound louder. If this is the case, I want him to get that replaced before it burns the motor out or causes other damage.
I took pictures of his setup today, but I can’t find my camera’s USB cord. I’ll get pictures of the setup by tomorrow afternoon if needed. I really appreciate anyone’s advice or insight. I’m always trying to learn more. If you need clarification on anything just let me know. Thanks.
A friend of mine has been having a couple pool issues (Phx, AZ). We are having a pool guy come check it out, but I thought I’d seek the advice from this site as well. He just moved into his house (4 days ago) and he has an 11,000 IG play pool with an attached hot tub, both run off of a STA-P4E6G2 HP Max-E-Glas Pump, sand filter (the pool figures in my signature don’t apply to this situation, I’m sure I’ll be back for advice on mine soon). When he moved in, the spa looked terrible, completely brown and it looked like the water hadn’t been circulated in months. He noticed that the 3 way Jandy valve for the spa inlet was turned to off, so he turned it to the middle so the pump would pull from both the pool and spa skimmers.
When the pump automatically turned on that night it was much louder than normal so he ran out and shut the system off. He couldn’t be exactly sure, but didn’t think it was running like that for any more than a few minutes. He said it was so loud he could hear it over the A/C inside the house and when he was outside he had to yell to hear his fiancé, and that it sounded like the pump was running dry. He shut it off, and noticed that the pump (or motor? He wasn’t sure) smelled hot, but it wasn’t smoking or leaking.
I’ve personally never had a spa and pool running off the same plumbing, so I’ve never had to deal with it, but I remember reading one time that you only want to return water to connected spas so it over flows into the pool, you don’t want to have the pump pulling from the spa. I could be wrong but I thought that may have been his issue, the pump couldn’t pull enough water from the spa, and that ran it dry. But the valve was set to run from both the pool and spa tho (I’m not very familiar with his system yet)
He knew I was somewhat familiar with pools so I came out, primed the pump and reset the valve to the pool skimmer before I turned it on. It struggled for a few seconds, but it primed it after about 15-20 seconds and seemed to be running fine. Nothing was leaking, smoking or anything like that, I didn’t even notice a smell.
I checked all the returns and the skimmer, and everything was pulling and returning like it should. My friend’s fiancé thought that it sounded louder than before. I had heard the pump the first day he moved in (I helped him move), and it does seem slightly louder, but I don’t trust my memory. Not a rattle or whine, just louder than before the night it got hot. My (inexperienced) guess is that when the pump/motor was dry and got hot, the shaft seal went out, thus causing the pump to sound louder. If this is the case, I want him to get that replaced before it burns the motor out or causes other damage.
I took pictures of his setup today, but I can’t find my camera’s USB cord. I’ll get pictures of the setup by tomorrow afternoon if needed. I really appreciate anyone’s advice or insight. I’m always trying to learn more. If you need clarification on anything just let me know. Thanks.
