My Superflo VST is a mess inside

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Toxophilite said:
With the rubber-based ceramics, they end up getting a compression seal on assemble pressure. Adding too much of anything other than lube can compound the main issue with housings if there's going to be issue, and that is being out of concentric on the base of the bore. If that's out of whack due to damage/wear, the ceramic and carbon will not mate properly. I spent a good part of my prior life rebuilding hundreds of marine pumps with 2-piece seals, and sometimes you get away with reusing a damaged bore, and sometimes, you don't.
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If you don't mind me asking, what's the result when you don't get away with reusing a damaged bore?
 
As best I can figure, the rubber/ceramic part is meant to stay in place inside the seal plate, and the spring part is meant to spin with the impeller while pressing against the ceramic piece. (Right?) Something happened and the ceramic piece started to spin too, causing friction against the inside of the seal plate that isn't intended to happen. Either I got some grit in there and it wasn't clean when I took it apart last time, or I put the spring piece in backward, or something. I know I didn't remove the old ceramic piece when I disassembled the pump last time.
 
kimkats said:
OH :poop: That does not look good! Give INYO a call and ask them who to send a pic of your part so they can help you match it up. If you have any problem let me know and I can ask for someone from INYO pool get in contact with you here.
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I tried chatting on their website, but it sounds like it's not a pump they stock parts for. :( They only have parts for older Superflo models (6/19 or older) and mine is 12/19 manufacture date.
 
IceShadow said:
As best I can figure, the rubber/ceramic part is meant to stay in place inside the seal plate, and the spring part is meant to spin with the impeller while pressing against the ceramic piece. (Right?)
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Yes. The ceramic should NOT be touching the shaft. The only way the ceramic would spin is if there was corrosion or something that bridge the gap.
 
IceShadow said:
If you don't mind me asking, what's the result when you don't get away with reusing a damaged bore?
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Many times, mine wasn't a choice of economics and more necessity. Sent out at 3:00 am with limited parts and in the bottom of a boat at sea you do what you have to do. The takeaway of mine was more that; lube is advised to ease the push into the bore and help in not getting a false set to bottom; the idea is not to "glue" in place as glue/sealer could affect the rubber to plastic sealing; and given that, if the bore is out of whack enough to need some sealer for aid, it might leak anyway.

When you don't get away with using a damaged bore, the pump leaks. It's gonna be because the rubber has limited sealing to damages of bore, or, because the ceramic seal doesn't sit straight to the carbon ring and the mating is off due to bore wear. The normal, operational, "seal" is the rotating carbon ring lapping into the fixed ceramic ring.

But, if that were mine, it's the cost of trying seal v. buying a housing. The way I operate, I would risk the cost of a seal first :) But, that's just me.

Here's another test. If the seal seems loose to push in, get a housing. Or, if you are limited on time getting it all up and running, order the housing with the seal and eliminate the possibilities.
 
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Toxophilite said:
Many times, mine wasn't a choice of economics and more necessity. Sent out at 3:00 am with limited parts and in the bottom of a boat at sea you do what you have to do. The takeaway of mine was more that; lube is advised to ease the push into the bore and help in not getting a false set to bottom; the idea is not to "glue" in place as glue/sealer could affect the rubber to plastic sealing; and given that, if the bore is out of whack enough to need some sealer for aid, it might leak anyway.

When you don't get away with using a damaged bore, the pump leaks. It's gonna be because the rubber has limited sealing to damages of bore, or, because the ceramic seal doesn't sit straight to the carbon ring and the mating is off due to bore wear. The normal, operational, "seal" is the rotating carbon ring lapping into the fixed ceramic ring.

But, if that were mine, it's the cost of trying seal v. buying a housing. The way I operate, I would risk the cost of a seal first :) But, that's just me.

Here's another test. If the seal seems loose to push in, get a housing. Or, if you are limited on time getting it all up and running, order the housing with the seal and eliminate the possibilities.
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My plan is to clean out the seal plate bore as best I can, reassemble with the pump seal, and run it. Then, when I can, I'll get a new seal plate. When I get that, I'll also get a new impeller to be safe, and a new pump seal. The pump seal is like $10. The other parts are $160ish total, which I can swing, but the seal plate just isn't available anywhere right now. I'll keep an eye on part websites and when one shows up I'll get it and replace everything at that time to be sure.
 
IceShadow said:
My plan is to clean out the seal plate bore as best I can, reassemble with the pump seal, and run it. Then, when I can, I'll get a new seal plate. When I get that, I'll also get a new impeller to be safe, and a new pump seal. The pump seal is like $10. The other parts are $160ish total, which I can swing, but the seal plate just isn't available anywhere right now. I'll keep an eye on part websites and when one shows up I'll get it and replace everything at that time to be sure.
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You and I think alike! Settle the issue in your mind using the criteria of economics, parts availability, difficulty to redo, and urgency of need. The other issue is also to protect your pump motor at all costs. I wouldn't live with a drip even, without fast-tracking in sourcing the parts you mention.
 

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Toxophilite said:
You and I think alike! Settle the issue in your mind using the criteria of economics, parts availability, and urgency of need. The other issue is also to protect your pump motor at all costs. I wouldn't live with a drip even, without fast-tracking in sourcing the parts you mention.
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I found the part listed on two websites (which is kinda strange, the older seal plate is listed on 10+ websites). One of them had an "alert when in stock" feature so I signed up for that.
 
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If you know you will eventually need a backplate, i would definetly try without sealant and if it leaks i would seal it, if it still leaks you can go further with something like JBWeld for plastic. This will buy you time while you get new backplate. Do what you can with what you have.
 
I called my "local" pool store (about a 20 minute drive away - pool stores close to me only really handle above-ground pools) and they said they'd order the parts for me from Pentair. They said just a rough guess that it's about two weeks for a lead time, but that's a really rough guess - it could be longer. I said I completely understood. So I ordered the impeller, a seal plate, and a new pump seal to replace the parts I have. So long as the diffuser cover doesn't break or have issues, I think we'll be good to go when I swap those in, and for now I'll see if I can get what I have working/limping along.
 
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1poolman1 said:
That picture shows the water-slinger in its proper place. That's all there is.
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OK, this was a piece of something hard and deformed in front of that rubber piece. If that's all I should have, then that piece was just melted and hardened rubber from the pump seal failure that was pushed behind the seal plate.


 

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