Had a little fun with my Intelliflo VSF pool pump! (seal replacement)

[Flying Tivo]

My pump is 4.5 years old and has been working flawlessly about 3-5 hours a day. The story goes like this:
Started to notice an oxidation drip from the back of the impeller housing, very small.



So today in the afternoon i stared the whole process, first was ordering the seal kit a week ago. Order from amazon the original salt kit for 30usd deliverd to Mx, so i think thats a steal.



Next i followed to close al the valves and filter, then unscrewed all the unions(thanks TFP). Moved the pump to a working table and started disassembly. Removed the seal and was very Obvious that a leak had stared.



As you can see the shaft had started to corrode, glad i picked it up soon.



Brought out my handy Dremel kit, used the soft bronze sponge bristles wheel(or something like that) and polished it out. Very happy with the results. Cleaned and re-lubed this seals as they dont come in the kit. They were not in bad shape. Magic Lube to the rescue.



This are the old seals, looks like they were ready to explode!



Installed the new salt water seal, which replaces the metal housing with a plastic one. Don t know why Pentair dont do this at the factory.



All the O-Rings installed and lubed with Magic Lube.



Forgot to take the last assembly pictures but you get the idea.
Also added crimp connector to the main power cables at the pump.

What i learned:
1. The pump software should have an alert at certain amount of running hours to change the seals.(i will keep dreaming)
2. Its very easy to do this, minus the heavy lifting of the pump to the table.
3. This is an idea for @Leebo and pool math to be able to program certain reminders forward in time, like seal change every 3 years.

 

[Texas Splash]

Nice work! Glad everything went well.

 

[Jimrahbe]

@Flying Tivo

Felipe,

Nice write up, which I suspect I'll have to use in the future..

That said, I have three saltwater pools with three 3 HP IntelliFlo pumps. They have all been running 24/7 for between 9 and 12 years.

I always keep an eye open for that little drip of water under the pump, but so far, have not had a single failure. For some things, like an aircraft, it makes absolute sense to inspect and replace things on a schedule. But for me anyway, I don't see much of an advantage to replacing something that is working.

Just curious... have you been running 24/7 or does your pump start and stop each day??

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[Flying Tivo]

Jim, this is my schedule for summer, in winter 1-2 less hours.
Anyways the seals are carbon based and is a wear item just like break pads on a car. I would encourage you to at least check one of them so you get an idea. When i was removing the old seal, it had very little Silicon sealer, i suspect it has something to do with the leak. I added pleanty of sealer for the new one. My worries are not with the seal itself but mainly with the motor shaft corroding, that is the expensive part.