Pump about to go?

[Prav]

All:

Over the past few weeks, the water circulation has been fine (or at least unchanged) yet the noise output (particularly, the tone/quality) is pretty bad. Before, you could tell it was running if you in the room that overlooks the equipment; now, you can almost hear it from the other side of the house (a good 35-40 feet away).

Short of posting a video so that you can hear it, what should I look/listen for? How do I tell if it's just the motor (vs. the pump being fine)? And, what's the worst case scenario if I continue to operate as is for another few weeks - motor burns out and has to be replaced? Any concern about the rest of the equipment/plumbing?

Thanks for the initial thoughts.
M.

 

[Bama Rambler]

There's the old mechanics trick of sticking a screwdriver to the housing and holding the handle to your ear and turning it by hand to listen for the grinding sound that's the tale-tale sign of bad bearings. Running another couple of weeks might not do anything or it could ruin the motor as well as the pump housing. It's very hard to tell what might happen.

 

[Prav]

OK, so I think it is indeed the bearings. Reading this thread I got the general idea of the process. But, how do I know which one of the three bearings to get? Pump is 1½ HP, but some of the front end/back end references threw me off. Are there two sets of bearings that could possibly be bad? I'm almost tempted to have PB come out and do everything for $100 rather than spend $15 for bearings, time/effort to figure out and run the risk of not doing 100% right.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks, and happy new year!

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

If the noise is a high pitched squeal, its likely the front bearing having been sprayed with water from a leaking seal set.

Replace the motor and it's seal set. The motor will likely cost about $225 to $250, the seal set about $25, and about an hour's labor, depending on work space. It is also possible you may need a new impeller and Go-Kit which has new gaskets and the seal set if the impeller is seized to the shaft. The impeller is about $20 and the Go-Kit about $40.

When completed, it will be nearly identical to a new pump in terms of performance and should last nearly as long.

Scott

 

[Prav]

Last question (for now!)....

If motor is currently single speed, do I need to stay with single speed, or can I put 2-speed in (assuming that I do have a 220V connection).

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

Sure but make sure the motor's High speed matches the existing motor's performance and that it has a Hi-Lo switch.

Also note that your sig doesn't say if you have a salt cell or erosion feeder. They may have performance issues on low speed, depending on the model and the pipe size and velocity of the flow. It's not always as black and white as we'd like.

Scott