Is my pump dead?

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D

Dandelion

Member
Aug 23, 2020
19
Brisbane
I noticed this morning the pump was running but water wasn't flowing.

The waterline is high enough for the intake

I cleared the baskets in the skimmer box and in the pump

I tried manually priming by blocking the intake, opening the lid and filling up with water and closing the lid tight and unblocking the intake.

The pump immediately started losing prime again, and it sounds like the air is coming in from the motor end of the pump itself or something.

There is water underneath the pump but I'm not sure if it's leaking or just water that splashed when I was troubleshooting/priming.

One thing I did notice was salt on the outside of the motor that you can see in the video, and some on the ground where I knocked it off.

In the video you can hear the glugging as the pump loses prime, and the gurgling sound that I thought might be air coming in on the right hand side.
 
Update: there is definitely a leak in the pump itself. Once I cleared off the salt properly I noticed water dripping between the main body of the pump and the housing for the motor. The leak is so bad that it drips out without the pump even running, just from the pressure of the water sitting in the pump.

I pulled the housing for the motor off the body of the pump, and there is a flange that sits between the impeller and the body of the motor, which is the bit that seems to be leaking.. except i can't seem to seperate them because the impeller is in the way and I can't get it out.
 
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I suspect that "salt" you saw was actually corrosion from the leaking. You should be able to shop around for a "Go-Kit" which would offer all the seals/gaskets required. Besides a new seal plate gasket, it should also have a new shaft seal (2-pieces) that prevents water from passing from the pump pot to the motor. Worth a try.
 
Dandelion said:
Update: there is definitely a leak in the pump itself. Once I cleared off the salt properly I noticed water dripping between the main body of the pump and the housing for the motor. The leak is so bad that it drips out without the pump even running, just from the pressure of the water sitting in the pump.

I pulled the housing for the motor off the body of the pump, and there is a flange that sits between the impeller and the body of the motor, which is the bit that seems to be leaking.. except i can't seem to seperate them because the impeller is in the way and I can't get it out.
Click to expand...
Which pump is that? Brand? Model? Looks to be a Jandy pump with an old iMpower replacement motor. Inyo Pools used to carry them. With the motor that close to the wall it doesn't get a lot of air through the fan to keep it cool. Holding the fan should allow the impeller to be un-threaded from the motor.
 
It’s an astral pool p300. After getting the impeller off I think the leak is the ceramic mechanical seal.

I don’t really see corrosion on anything important thankfully. Hopefully I can just replace the seal and get a couple more years out of it.


It’s an old pump though. Built in 2011.
 
I think I need to just replace it. In trying to pull it apart I undid a screw that turned out to be holding an internal nut that was holding a bearing in place. To get access to that nut I had to pull the entire pump apart, including a lot of bashing and swearing to get bearings off. I don't think I can put this thing back together.

Now the rotor won't rotate as well and I'm not sure if it has seized or if it is just a breaking magnet powered by capacitors that discharged over time while I was messing with it.
 
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