Hello, first post here so providing a bit of context. We bought our house a year ago this month. A big draw was the 1971 hybrid pool that is the backyard. We are first time pool (and home) owners and luckily found this forum almost immediately while dealing with persistent yellow algae. Last summer we were able to get the sand filter (cracked housing, pool-store-potion-clogged sand, sand entering pool through returns) replaced by the home warranty included in our contract. At the time, I asked the tech replacing the filter about our pump, specifically that it often loses prime and that the filter pressure never reads above ~8 psi during regular operation (will raise a few psi while we manually vacuum if we have put off vacuuming for too long, i.e. send lots of leaves and gunk to the filter). His advice was to stop using the timer on the pump and just let it run 24/7 (to solve the lost prime issue) and that the filter pressure was probably about the diameter on the return jets being too large. We did not heed the advice about running the pump constantly because it feels unnecessary/expensive/wasteful. Instead we have been monitoring daily to make sure the pump primes (and adding water at the trap basket if it doesn't), with the exception of a week last summer where the pump likely ran 6 hours every day without prime while we were out of town (housesitter didn't catch it). As far as the return jet comment, our pool has been painted so many times that the threading on the jets is basically nonexistent. We haven't attempted to solve for this yet.
Fast forward to this season and we still have the lost prime and static (low) pressure issues. There are always air bubbles from the return jets while the pump gets started, even if it does catch prime on its own (starts with very large "burping" bubbles at the return closest to the equipment pad, then streams of bubbles at both returns, then usually subsides after a few minutes). Additionally, there are clearly leaks in the pump set up. When the pump shuts off, there is often a "sigh" of water that pours out from around the trap basket lid. I'm assuming this is a sign that we need to replace the trap basket o-ring. I also noticed a steady drip of water under the seal plate. I'm thinking this is a worn shaft seal. The pad under the pump is always damp and there are rusted bolts and rust streaks on the pump housing so there may be other leaks I haven't directly observed. (The picture is right after a rain - it isn't usually soaked, just damp under pump.)
I love the water chemistry aspect of pool ownership but not so much the equipment maintenance. (I am a chemistry nerd by training and while I aced my physics classes, I definitely left the hands-on practical application stuff to my lab partner.) I am willing to get a tune up kit and attempt replacing all the seals/gaskets to see if that improves performance but I want to make sure this is worth it - i.e., based on the age of our pump (housing and motor) and the lack of routine maintenance (owners of the last 25 years were not as passionate about pool ownership as we are) does it make more sense to replace than to repair? My thoughts/questions around the replacement option are: a lot of the bolts are rusted out so I'd probably have to deal with those during repair, is the HP enough for our setup, do we have air getting in from the plumbing around the pump (more than I was planning on taking on during a gasket/seal overhaul).
TLDR - Taking over aged pump equipment with dubious maintenance history and known leaks, how do I know when it is better to repair vs. replace? Is static (and low) filter pressure a problem? If yes, is it a sign of a pump issue or should I be troubleshooting something else? Any other feedback welcome. Thanks in advance!
Fast forward to this season and we still have the lost prime and static (low) pressure issues. There are always air bubbles from the return jets while the pump gets started, even if it does catch prime on its own (starts with very large "burping" bubbles at the return closest to the equipment pad, then streams of bubbles at both returns, then usually subsides after a few minutes). Additionally, there are clearly leaks in the pump set up. When the pump shuts off, there is often a "sigh" of water that pours out from around the trap basket lid. I'm assuming this is a sign that we need to replace the trap basket o-ring. I also noticed a steady drip of water under the seal plate. I'm thinking this is a worn shaft seal. The pad under the pump is always damp and there are rusted bolts and rust streaks on the pump housing so there may be other leaks I haven't directly observed. (The picture is right after a rain - it isn't usually soaked, just damp under pump.)
I love the water chemistry aspect of pool ownership but not so much the equipment maintenance. (I am a chemistry nerd by training and while I aced my physics classes, I definitely left the hands-on practical application stuff to my lab partner.) I am willing to get a tune up kit and attempt replacing all the seals/gaskets to see if that improves performance but I want to make sure this is worth it - i.e., based on the age of our pump (housing and motor) and the lack of routine maintenance (owners of the last 25 years were not as passionate about pool ownership as we are) does it make more sense to replace than to repair? My thoughts/questions around the replacement option are: a lot of the bolts are rusted out so I'd probably have to deal with those during repair, is the HP enough for our setup, do we have air getting in from the plumbing around the pump (more than I was planning on taking on during a gasket/seal overhaul).
TLDR - Taking over aged pump equipment with dubious maintenance history and known leaks, how do I know when it is better to repair vs. replace? Is static (and low) filter pressure a problem? If yes, is it a sign of a pump issue or should I be troubleshooting something else? Any other feedback welcome. Thanks in advance!
