Noise at pump after cleaning filter cartridges

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JessM

JessM

0
Jan 3, 2015
39
Tulsa, OK
Pool Size
19000
Surface
Fiberglass
Chlorine
Liquid Chlorine

Pump Noise After Filter Change

This morning, I installed new cartridges into the filter. I debated cleaning the existing ones, but knowing how the previous owner had blown off all preventive maintenance around the rest of the house, I had an idea that all-new filters would be a prudent move. Replacement was no issue..and as I...
www.troublefreepool.com www.troublefreepool.com

I found this old thread, and hope someone can help me better understand. I am having this problem. On Saturday my pressure was at 12, which was close to 10
psi over startup in my two year old pool. I pulled the cartridges, hosed them down, and let them soak for a couple of hours in dish soap as described on TFP before giving them another good rinse and reinstalling them.

At first it was great. The psi was at 4. Awesome! Then I noticed lots of little bubbles from one of the returns. I did research here and figured I had a suction side leak. Sure enough, the o-ring on the pump pot had some small debris on it. Cleaned that off and put the lid back on. Bubbles gone. All returns feeling and looking normal.

This morning psi is at 6. Returns look and feel great. But the pump is vibrating/rattling/knocking. I don’t know how to explain the noise. Also the water rushing under the glass of the pump pot lid is perfectly smooth; it’s hard to even tell there is water there. I had to turn off the pump to see that it IS full of water. This is odd because the pool is two years old and water has ALWAYS kind of thrashed and churned around under that glass, not in a vortex - just lots of water churning.

So what’s normal? The water churning under that glass lid? Or perfectly smooth? What caused the change?

If the newly cleaned filters caused cavitation, why didn’t the clean filters last season (when they were brand new in their very first season) cause cavitation? Doesn’t that indicate that the pump is NOT oversized? Does that mean I have a clog somewhere?

I can’t figure out how to post videos here, but I have video of the noise my pump is making now. I’m scared of letting it continue to run in case it destroys my impeller. I also have video of the water churning under that glass lid last season. It’s always done that so that seems normal to me.

Thank you (AGAIN) for amazing advice here.
 
JessM said:
I can’t figure out how to post videos here, but I have video of the noise my pump is making now. I’m scared of letting it continue to run in case it destroys my impeller. I also have video of the water churning under that glass lid last season. It’s always done that so that seems normal to me.
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You can post videos on YouTube then link it back to this thread.

Also post a picture of your pump and suction lines.

Little to no bubbles under the pump basket lid is ideal.

Is there any decrease flow from your returns?
 
Hi, HermanTX. Thanks for the reply. I’ll work on getting videos. Here is a pic of my pump / filter set up. I don’t notice any decrease in water flow from my returns. I don’t know how to measure that but it seems the same.
 

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JessM said:
Hi, HermanTX. Thanks for the reply. I’ll work on getting videos. Here is a pic of my pump / filter set up. I don’t notice any decrease in water flow from my returns. I don’t know how to measure that but it seems the same.
Click to expand...
Thanks for photo. That 90 deg elbow in front of the pump can cause the churning that you noticed before. Cleaning the filter helped reduce back pressure which is why it is flowing better now. Still doesn’t answer why you have pump noise on the single speed pump.

Related subject - if you ever have the opportunity in the future. It will mean a replumb but move the filter to the left so you can rotate the pump and have a straight flow into your pump. The length should be 10 inches from the valve to the pump. You have a lot of room on your pad so it seems doable.
 
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JessM said:

Pool water at pump lid.mov

drive.google.com drive.google.com

This is the video of what I consider “normal” for the water movement under the glass lid over my pump basket. Again, it’s a new pool; this is our second season with it.
Click to expand...
Having a lot of air and swirling in the pump basket is not normal. As stated before, having that 90 deg elbow directly before the pump inlet is partially the cause for that. You could also have some blockage in the suction line or skimmer basket not allowing sufficient flow to the pump.
 
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Some members do not have google accounts. Thus they cannot view things tied to that.
Use YouTube.
 
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The second one is not good. Lots of air so that is a suction side air leak.

The first one is an odd noise. Single speed pump. Our pump experts will be better at diagnosing it.
 
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HermanTX said:
Having a lot of air and swirling in the pump basket is not normal. As stated before, having that 90 deg elbow directly before the pump inlet is partially the cause for that. You could also have some blockage in the suction line or skimmer basket not allowing sufficient flow to the pump.
Click to expand...
The PB for this pool has 20+ years of experience and makes the fiberglass pools himself and installs them from beginning to end himself. I like that because if there are problems the installer can't blame the PB and vice versa. It was amazing to watch him work. He has installed this same pool in literally hundreds of homes over the years. Given his expertise and knowledge, I am leery of questioning whether he installed the wrong size pump / filter combo or that the configuration for the plumbing is incorrect. Is there any chance he did the 90 degree elbow ON PURPOSE to slow down the flow of water through the pump in order to make the pump/filter combo work well together?

Also how would I determine if I have a blockage in the suction lines? We regularly clean the skimmer basket and pump basket. Neither has ever had large debris in it other than when the concrete decking was poured. Then we had a lot of pebbles in the baskets. We don't have trees nearby as our pool sits adjacent to our hay meadows.
 
JamesW said:
Looks like a seal leak.

Most likely the bearings are damaged from the seal leak.
Click to expand...
OK! So we knew there is a leak. That's what prompted the overall maintenance day. I noticed the leak one day, ordered new knobs/o-rings/Magic Lube and decided if we were doing maintenance we should also address the cartridge clean-up. The new knobs, o-rings, and Magic Lube haven't arrived yet. The funny thing is that drip was first at the knob directly under the pump basket. When we cleaned the filter cartridges on Saturday we tightened both of those knobs on the pump and hoped they would be fine until the new stuff arrived. Now the knob under the pump basket no longer leaks, but the knob you've noted here does leak. It only leaks when the pump runs; it runs 12 hours a day though. Would that leak have damaged the bearings in one 12-hour period that the pump was running? I ask because we put the cleaned cartridges back in, noticed the bubbles in the return shortly after restarting, cleaned debris off the o-ring for the pump basket lid, and then everything was great and normal from about 4:00 PM until we went in the house around 8:00 PM. I ran the pump for about an hour the next morning just to be sure there were no more air leaks. All was great (even though the not-churning water through the pump was odd to me). Then the pump kicked on at 5:30 PM for it's normal timed cycle. It was still good though - no noise. Then the noise started at about 6:30.
 
JamesW said:
Can you show the exact location of the leak?
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I am at school today working. I know, though, that the drip comes out of the second knob on the pump - not the knob under the pump basket (though it was there first). I suspect that we cracked that knob overtightening it on Saturday. I put a cup there to catch it to see if that was the only drip. In the time I caught the drip in the cup there, the pavement under the pump started to dry out, so I'm fairly certain that is the only drip. I can take a picture of it later tonight if needed.
 
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