Pump Noise (not from motor)

[wpb]

Hi All,
Thanks to great advice from mas985, I recently replaced a couple pump motors/impellers.

One was the recirc pump, that went great, no problems.

The second was a pump used for spa jets. It is a Whisperflo WFE-6 on a 2.20 SHP Emerson pump (correctly sized impeller/pump combo).

When the spa-jet pump started up, it sounded just fine, nice and quiet/smooth. That lasted for about 20 minutes or so. The next time I walked by the pump, it was loud. The best way I can describe the sound is like loud "static". Crackley, noisey. But the funny thing is that it does not sound like it's coming from the new motor that I replaced.

It sounds like it may be coming from the pump head itself, close to the motor.

When I had replaced the motor, I replaced the seals and gaskets as well. Could it be that one of those seals is bad somehow?

Thank you in advance for any ideas! :-D

 

[X-PertPool]

Can you post a video? Regardless Try stepping lightly on the back of the motor, sometimes if the pump is sitting on the ground a little funny it can vibrate a lot which can make a pretty loud humming sound

 

[wpb]

Thank you for the reply. I tried recording it before posting, but it really didn't sound much different than a normal pump. The volume/unusual noise did not come through in the recording.

The vibration is a great suggestion, I should have mentioned that it was the first thing I eliminated. After attempting to place force on the pump, I then felt it for temperature (a probably 10 degrees hotter than it should be), and then placed my ear all around the pump to determine the noise appeared to be coming from the inside of the pump-head, closer to the motor than to the basket.

Thanks again for any ideas!

 

[JamesW]

It sounds like it's either cavitation, something in the impeller, or the impeller is rubbing on the diffuser.

Cavitation could come from a blockage in the suction lines. Cavitation could also be caused by insufficient pressure on the pressure side. If the jets are missing, then there might not be enough pressure to keep the suction from cavitating. Any missing pressure on the pressure side will become suction on the suction side.

Did the diffuser O-ring and diffuser set-screws get installed?

Also, it's a WFE-6 and not a WPE-6, right?

 

[wpb]

@JamesW-
Thank you for the reply, I think you're on to something.

First, yes, it's a WFE-6, sorry for the type-o.

Next, on the diffuser. The set-screws did get installed tightly, however, there was no O-ring on the diffuser for either pump, not on the spa-jet pump that is making the noise, nor on the recirculation pump that is working okay. I did some research, but I could not determine if this is somethign they added in later pump design. I don't know the exact model year of these pumps, but I believe they are later than 2000. I had bought them from a local guy that sells rebuilt pumps, so I'm wondering if he could have missed it. I'm also wondering, if this is the problem, whether it's causing my recirculation pump problems as well, and it just makes less noise so I'm not noticing it.

Can you confirm that all Whisperflo pumps should have the diffuser O-ring, or is it possible that the reason mine did not have them originally, was due to it being an earlier model?

Thank you in advance!

 

[JamesW]

I'm pretty sure that they have always had the O-ring, but I'm not 100 % sure. The parts diagram does show a different lid prior to 11-98. Therefore, I would think that if there were any other differences, then they would probably be noted on the parts diagram.

http://www.poolplaza.com/C-WhisperFlo-Parts.html