May need a new pump—pump has been loud, seized up today

[coolinthepool]

Hey, all—my summer of fun with pool repairs continues .

I'm a new, used-pool owner and knew I was buying one with older equipment. My pump has been getting louder lately—to the point that when people come over, I unplug it so that it isn't a constant sound with which to compete. Today, I went to plug it in and it immediately hummed when I did so, then stopped humming. I unplugged it and have left it for the after-work time. So, first off, I suppose I should troubleshoot if it's gone or repairable enough to get me through the rest of the pool season. If you have ideas, I'd love to hear them. The pump is a STA-RITE MPRA6E-147L. I’m attaching pictures as well.

Second, prices in pumps vary wildly—I plan to do any installation of a new pump myself. I installed a pool heater myself recently, so I'm pretty confident at this point. But pumps vary from a few hundred dollars to well over a thousand dollars, looking at this list here:

https://www.poolsupplyunlimited.com/search/products/1?&q=pool%20pump&rows=20&start=0

Anyway, I don't have a complex setup, I don't believe. But feel free to ask questions for clarification. Thanks!

 

[borjis]

The pump housing is probably ok, you could remove the motor and send it to a local repair shop for new bearings. Then just order and install a new seal kit.
Your gonna need to clean the inside of that copper bonding lugs as well as the part of the copper wire that connects to them once you get it back.

 

[coolinthepool]

The pump housing is probably ok, you could remove the motor and send it to a local repair shop for new bearings. Then just order and install a new seal kit.
Your gonna need to clean the inside of that copper bonding lugs as well as the part of the copper wire that connects to them once you get it back.

Thanks for the response! I guess I’m curious if this is economic or if a replacement would end up being only slightly more. I’m not sure how much a repair shop would charge, whether that’s something I could do, or even where repair shops are, so I should do some research, admittedly.

 

[bzbee]

I am new used-pool owner too and had my pump die on me last week. Here's my form post about it. Based on the advice & inputs I decided to replace it with a new variable speed motor as I was convinced that it'd save me money on the long term and give other benefits like low noise, lower flow rate with longer pool circulation etc.

Your pic shows your motor has unions, so you could easily swap out the whole pump. Look at the Inyo Pools website for some ideas.

If your motor was loud and seized up, it sounds like bad bearings. If know a good motor repair shop, they could probably fix it. Or if you are handy, you could try fixing it yourself (serach youtube for instructions).

 

[coolinthepool]

I am new used-pool owner too and had my pump die on me last week. Here's my form post about it. Based on the advice & inputs I decided to replace it with a new variable speed motor as I was convinced that it'd save me money on the long term and give other benefits like low noise, lower flow rate with longer pool circulation etc.

Your pic shows your motor has unions, so you could easily swap out the whole pump. Look at the Inyo Pools website for some ideas.

If your motor was loud and seized up, it sounds like bad bearings. If know a good motor repair shop, they could probably fix it. Or if you are handy, you could try fixing it yourself (serach youtube for instructions).

Thanks for the shared experience! I’ll take a look at a bearings replacement for my model to see if it’s a worthwhile endeavor. If not, I’ll certainly take a look at a variable speed replacement. They do seem nice. I noticed the Inyo model runs upwards of a thousand, which is fine. I’m just already out the price of a heater and a new cover this year. So I’m looking for something to get me through until spring. :-D

 

[coolinthepool]

Update. I opened up my motor and manually spun the impeller several times. It was jammed and corroded. But, I got it running again. So, I expect it to last the rest of the month. When I shut it down, I’ll budget for a new pump in the spring. Maybe one of those fancy ones I keep hearing about.