Pump OOS for 2 Days

[JRHurst00l]

Hi all,

I have been lurking for two years after learning about this site. I have managed to kick the pool store with the exception of opening and closing our pool. When the pool builder opened our pool this spring, we were told that the bearings in our pump are going bad and would need to be replaced. They told us not to worry about it until the pool was clean and all the levels were good.

Well, that was two weeks ago and the pump seized up this morning. Hopefully they will be able to get out first thing Monday morning, but I am worried about what to do in the meantime. I'm being told it will take them two days to pull the motor, replace the bearings, and get it back up running again.

Here are my last set of results (pH, FC, CC, & NaCL from today, others from yesterday):

pH - 7.6
FC - 3
CC - .5
TA - 80
CH - 250
CYA - 60
NaCl - 2900
Temp - 66

I had started to bring up the CYA yesterday and have a sock sitting in the strainer basket on the skimmer. It is still mostly full, but should I pull this until it is fixed (especially with the heater)?

I do have an Aquabot, so I plan on running that every day to keep the Cl levels around 3. I know the salt is a little low, but with the pump down I'm not too worried about that. Yesterday the CC was <.2 and it is up today, but I brushed the pool yesterday so I expected that to raise a little.

Anything else I should be worried about? I wish I was a little more mechanically inclined, so I could replace the bearings myself. As long as there isn't anything else wrong, I think $200 is a reasonable price for replacing the bearings and all the seals.

Thanks for your time!

John

 

[matso]

I just had this exact scenario. Bad bearings, out of service pump for about 2 1/2 days.

I basically tested and topped up the water daily with bleach (I'm usually on a SWG). I took out my CYA sock from the skimmer because I worried that without circulation the water in the skimmer might get pretty acidic. I ran my Dolphin Nautilus both days just for some water movement and to keep it cleaner than normal, and when I put bleach in I used the brush to move the water around for about 2 minutes.

Everything seemed to go just fine.

I paid $120 Canadian for it to be cleaned of corrosion, painted, new bearings, new seal. $200 might be a bit high, but I guess it depends on your pump - Hayward SuperPump 3/4 HP here.

Good luck, it shouldn't be an issue if you keep up on FC.

 

[Richard320]

Just exactly what he said ^^^

 

[JRHurst00l]

Thanks! Just wanted some assurance I was on the right path.

I've been looking at videos on-line. Is it easier to access the motor on the Hayward pumps?

 

[matso]

I'm not sure how easy it is in comparison to your pump. But it was easy enough for me to remove it from the wet-end, disconnect the electrical, and bring it to the guy. From watching videos it looks straight forward getting access to the motor from there to replace the bearings, but I don't have the tools or experience to replace those myself so I happily deferred. I transported the pump to and from my house to the shop, which saved him a service call, and disconnected/reconnected everything myself. If they're taking care of everything, perhaps that's worth an extra $80? (Well, $100 with currency conversion....)

 

[JRHurst00l]

Finally got a chance to update this post...

Total down time, 4 days; total cost, $153 (I dropped off and picked up - new bearings, seals, cleaned & painted); the knowledge that TFP has given me, priceless!!!

The FC never went below 4, although the water did get hazy as I was stirring things up. Water is crystal clear and the pump is as quiet as a church mouse!

Thanks TFP!

 

[Richard320]

Finally got a chance to update this post...

Total down time, 4 days; total cost, $153 (I dropped off and picked up - new bearings, seals, cleaned & painted); the knowledge that TFP has given me, priceless!!!

The FC never went below 4, although the water did get hazy as I was stirring things up. Water is crystal clear and the pump is as quiet as a church mouse!

Thanks TFP!

There's always this....