Question about running a pump without water

[ramsfan]

Hi All, this will be an odd question, but I take really good care of my pool and help others do as well. In preparation for closing today, I was running my filter pump 24 hours a day with the skimmer drains open, and the floor drains closed (the goal was to capture all the leaves that are falling in the skimmer baskets.

I use a pool company to close. They had to cut there day short as it is really cold and rainy. They use their own pump to drain the water down below the return lines. They had to cut their work short this afternoon due to very cold and rainy weather. I went to check on things, and saw that they left the filter pump running and the floor drain valve was still closed, with the skimmer valve open. The pump basket was dry (because the water was below the skimmers) and the pump was running. I immediately opened the floor drain and the pump basket filled with water.

The pump probably ran dry for 3-5 hours.

My question:

Do you think I have anything to worry about it terms of damage to the pump, heater, or anything else?

Thanks!

 

[ajw22]

You will not know until the spring when you run the pump and see if its seals overheated and develops any leaks.

 

[ramsfan]

Hi ajw22 - thank you for responding to my post about the filter pump running dry for a few hours yesterday. You told me that I won't know about any damage until Spring when I will look for leaks for any seals that overheated. Where would I inspect for those leaks? The pump? Sand Filter head? SWG, PVC fittings? Heater?

Thanks!!!

 

[setsailsoon]

fan,

I've seen pumps run like this with literally no damage and others that had a seal failure right away. Don't know why but that's what I've seen. I'm guessing Allen's seen the same thing. The way you know is after start up you look for water dripping out of the bottom of the shaft housing on your pump. Usually there's a weep hole that can plug up but even then you'll see something if you look carefully. Take a look at your pump parts diagram to be sure you're looking in the right place. If in doubt a seal change is pretty minor and low cost. What you don't want to do is let it go and then pool water travels down the shaft to the motor flange and will very quickly cause the motor to fail. Then you get into much more expense. A seal kit plus the o-ring seal are pretty cheap.

Chris

 

[ajw22]

What model pump do you have?

The pump has seals that separate the wet front end from the motor. The motor shaft runs through seals into the wet end. The shaft seals are cooled by water and if the pump runs dry the shaft seals can warp and start leaking water into the motor. It is not often noticeable until the water leaking into the motor causes the motor to fail or start giving GCFI trips.

So you may think everything is fine but your motor will fail prematurely due to running without water.

 

[JJ_Tex]

Does the company you paid to close know that they left their drain on, causing your pump to run dry? I would mention that to see if they can check it out and/or give a price break to cover the possible repairs in the spring.

 

[ramsfan]

All - this is SUPER helpful - thank you!

The pimp I have is a Pentair Intelliflo 2 VST Pump. It is about 2.5 years old.

Also, the pool company does know it was running dry, as the owner called me to let me know they had to call it a day due to conditions. I walked outside to make sure the water was circulating and I didn't see water coming in to the pool from the return jets. I went down to my pool equipment and could hear the pump running, and noticed the valves were just like I was running them (floor drain closed, skimmer drain open) and the pump basket area was dry. I was on the phone with him when this happened. I opened the floor drain and observed water filling the pump basket, and the pump ran for about 18 hours until they closed the next morning.

 

[1Sammy]

If you had no water under the pump after that 18 hr run your ok. Put it to bed for the winter and worry about something else, lol.....