Impeller Reinstallation on new motor

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W

Windcrest

0
Nov 6, 2015
29
Houston TX
Hi All!

I ordered a new motor and gasket kit for my Pentair 2HP pump. When I spin the new motor shaft it is much quieter then my old motor that failed so that part is awesome! The new motor shaft doesn't spin as easily as the old one which I attribute to fully greased bearings and it being new. I was able to replace the mechanical seal with new parts and get the back plate back on. I then screwed on the impeller while holding the shaft at the back of the motor with my hand until the shaft started turning. I then held it with a wrench and snugged it down. I put the screw back in and thought the rest would be easy until I tried to spin the impeller and it wouldn't move. I put a wrench on the shaft and confirmed it turns but it is stiff.

My question is have I done something wrong or is it being stiff normal until the mechanical seal seats in properly. I hate to install it and then wear out the new motor but I also hate to not screw the impeller down and have it wobble while pumping. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 
I suspect that something is not assembled correctly.

Do you have pictures of the installation?

What pump do you have?

Did you review a YouTube video of the pump disassembly and reassembly?
 
JamesW said:
I suspect that something is not assembled correctly.

Do you have pictures of the installation?

What pump do you have?

Did you review a YouTube video of the pump disassembly and reassembly?
Click to expand...

I have the Pentair SuperFlo 2HP (Mine is an older model but same pump). I took out the old shaft seal and installed a new PS-1000 seal kit. After taking the old seals out I installed both parts of the seal until I couldn't push them in any longer (care not to damage the ceramic seals). I then installed the motor onto the housing and confirmed that the shaft was centered and the motor turned the same as before bolting the housing onto the motor.

The next step was installing the impeller. All of the YouTube video's I watched said to screw the impeller on and then use a wrench on the shaft, hand tighten the impeller followed by screwing the "reverse threaded" screw through the impeller and into the motor shaft. When I follow this procedure the impeller is difficult to turn but I can do it if I put a wrench on the motor shaft.

This feels too tight for the motor to spin but I don't know what the consequence of over tightening (its on a spring so it will wear in). The consequence of undertightening is that the seal will leak and there will be wobble in the impeller.

Not sure what to do?
 
There should have been a rubber boot on the ceramic part of the seal. Sometimes the ceramic part pops out and the rubber part remains in. Sometimes this goes unnoticed and you end up with an extra rubber boot, which causes the problem.

I think that you should break it all down again, replace the seal making sure that all old seal parts come out.

Then carefully reassemble.
 
Are you sure that you have a Pentair SuperFlo. The Pentair SuperFlo uses seal number 354545S or PS-200 or PS3867.

The Pentair WhisperFlo uses seal number 071734S or PS-1000 or PS-3865R.

If you used a PS-1000 on a Pentair SuperFlo, you used the wrong seal.

The PS-200 and PS-1000 are basic level seals and not a good choice.

The PS-3867 and PS-3865R are upgraded seals that are significantly better.
 
The actual pump name is long gone from the pump and I can't find anthing on any housing what the actual pool name is. The filter basket cover has a part number on it so I just cross referenced that to the WhisperFlo as you suggested. I also looked at the PS-200 seal and that is different then the seal on my pump which matched the PS-1000. I just took both parts back apart and put a new PS-1000 seal in with effectively the same results. At this point I figure that if the seal failed I can upgrade to the PS-3865R (I have another pump to rebuild so will use it for that).

I backed the impeller off some so I know for sure there is solid contact between the two ceramic pieces, it spins by turning the shaft with a wrench (it isn't like I have to crank it, just to get a better grip on it) so I figure I would wire it up and see how it works/sounds.

The new motor has 4 wires terminals on it but has a white wire on one of the L labeled terminals. That is different then how the one I took out was connected so now off to the TFP search on how to properly wire the motor. This really should be a very easy task and somehow I have turned it into a NASA project.
 
Do you have a picture of the pump?

Maybe a picture of the seals in place to see if there's anything obvious that is incorrect?

How did you push the metal cup side into the seal plate?

You have to get it all of the way seated. You can use a 1" pvc coupling or a piece of 1.25" pvc pipe to seat the metal cup. Either one fits the outer rim. You push the cup in to get it started, then you push down on the coupling to seat the seal.

HowTo: Repair a Pentair WhisperFlo Pump - poolplaza.com - YouTube
 

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I took off the impeller to confirm motor worked as it should so it confirmed the motor runs fine unloaded.

I then reinstalled the impeller and screwed it on until there was contact between the seals. I then went 1/8 of a turn past that to make sure the spring was engaged. I then ran the pump again to make sure the impeller ran before reinstalling the pump fully in the pump housing. This too didn't work.

Not sure what to do next.
 
I will try to re-install the old seal in the morning. I did get the seals taken back out and confirmed they are the same heights and confirmed that the motor shaft is sticking out the same distance on both pumps. All of these were expected to be the same but checked anyway.
 
Ya gotta' screw the impeller on until it bottoms out and is screwed on all the way, not an 1/8 of the way, then install the diffuser with the little allen head bolts/screws, then spin the impeller inside diffuser with fingers to make sure it spins freely, then bolt it up to pump housing.

This has nothing to do with the motor, or seal.


















































































































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I went out and got a 1" coupling to seat the seal in versus the other fitting that one of the video's suggested. When I used the coupling I was able to get that small fraction of an inch to get it to seat in all the way which appears to have resolved my issue. I did a test fit and powered it on briefly and all seemed to work. I will put it back into the pump, fill with water and check for leaks.
 
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