renlacing pump, which do I need?

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H

heyitsme06

0
Mar 24, 2010
61
Dallas, TX
ok guys so I became a pool owner 3 years ago when we bought our first house. The pool was on its last legs all around. Ancient filter, old pump, decking moving away from pool, coping cracked and loose (flagstone), rusty fence around pool and we have a retaining wall on one side that has sagged on either side of the pool.

So the pump worked and we replaced the filter with a pentair DE filter. I think its 48sq ft I need to check. Recently the pump has given me issues and I opened it up to find broken impeller and diffuser...seeing as how the parts for this pump are obsolete, I am debating if I need to spend $150 for hard to find parts or upgrade to a new pump.

problem is I am not sure what to get specs wise.

I am interested in the electricity savings of a 2 speed pump but am unsure of its right for my application.

My pool is a kidney pool. Deep end is about 8 ft deep, shallow end 3ft. The width of the deep end is 13 feet and the shallow end 20 feet. Finally the length of the pool is about 32 feet. Using the pentair calculator, I estimated my pool volume to be right around or below 20,000 gallons. Is this correct?

My equipment pad is about 6 feet away from the skimmer.

As far as pumps I only looked at the Pentair Superflo 1.5HP which is about $300 on ebay. Other than that I don't know what other pumps are good/recommended. We have a limited budget so I think the Variable speed pumps are out of the question for now since the pool will need work soon.

Do I stick with a 1.5HP? Im pretty lost...and seeing as how my pool guy quoted me at 900 for the 1.5HP Superflo which I found for 300, I think I can DIY and save me the money.

here are some pics for ref.







 
Why stick with a 1.5HP for a basic pool if a cheaper/small pump would be plenty?

You pump is actually a 1.5HP * 1.3SF = 1.95 SFHP pump ... which is easily double the size that you need.

A 2-speed will certainly save you money on electricity.

Is your current pump wired for 115V or 230V?
If 230V, I would suggest the Pentair Superflo 1HP 2-speed ... which you should be able to find for right around $400.
 
jblizzle said:
Why stick with a 1.5HP for a basic pool if a cheaper/small pump would be plenty?

You pump is actually a 1.5HP * 1.3SF = 1.95 SFHP pump ... which is easily double the size that you need.

A 2-speed will certainly save you money on electricity.

Is your current pump wired for 115V or 230V?
If 230V, I would suggest the Pentair Superflo 1HP 2-speed ... which you should be able to find for right around $400.
Click to expand...

thanks jblizzle, thats kind of what I was thinking, the 1.5hp was overkill. Can you explain the math you did there and what does SF and SFHP stand for.

also, I am not sure what the pump is wired for. I believe it to be 115 but am unsure. If thats the case what do I need to do?

another question is how would I use the 2 speeds? why are they better? I can just see myself always running the pump on low speed...
 
SF = Service Factor ... it is a game that manufacturer play with HP ratings. The true power is the HP times the SF. So often they have 2 motors that are identical, but one may be 1HP with 1.65SF and another will be 1.5HP with a 1.1SF. In reality they are identical.

What breaker feeds your pump? Lets verify that first. Finding the 115V 2-speed pumps is a little difficult.

On low speed the pump moves 1/2 the water as on high speed (or equivalent single speed motor) but uses 1/4 the power. So even if you double the run time on low to move the same water, you still save 50% of your electrical usage. Generally you want to run on low most all the time and only use high when you need to vacuum or clean the filter.

Many of the pumps come with a manual switch on them for you to select the speed, or you can add another timer to automatically switch speeds.

If you decide against a 2-speed, I would certainly look for nothing bigger than a 3/4-1 HP single speed since it does not appear that you have any need for high flow rates.
 
here is another question...

since the motor is still good there is part of me that feels bad just throwing this out just because I can't find the 1.5hp impeller....which lead me to do another search and found this 1HP impeller on amazon...

http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Pump-Impeller-HP-39200700/dp/B004YLI3FK

is it possible to run the pump with this impeller? or do I risk doing any damage? my thinking here is to get this pump to last until the spring time when I can take my time research more and also get some quotes on the new deck/tile/plaster work. The pool hasn't been running for about a week now since I don't want to damage the motor.
 
Actually, there is no problem with using a smaller impeller on your motor and that will lower the power usage some.
You can NOT use a larger impeller than the motor or you will damage the motor.

That said, I have not confirmed that is the correct part, but if you are pretty confident then that is certainly the cheapest path forward to get things running.

WHOA!!!! $50 for an impeller??? That is double what most impellers usually are.
 
if I indeed buy the 1HP impeller, what are the effects of running it without a diffuser...it seems no one in the world has the diffuser...

this is what the interior looked like when I opened the pump.


I only noticed the issue after a rattling noise began a couple of weeks ago. You can see the washer like plastic piece...my guess its a piece of the impeller that broke. The pump primed fined and ran without issues before this but it seems the impeller has been broken down for a while now...



does this black/grayish piece come out?
 
You have to have both the impeller and diffuser to work.
I am not sure about the specific pieces in yours, although I would think the grey piece in the last picture should come out.
 

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jblizzle, here is a diagram of my pump, numbers 9 and 10 are the parts I need?

Pentair%20American%20Products%20American%20Eagle%20Pump.jpg
 
I'm pretty sure the diffuser just helps channel the water where it's supposed to go. In every parts diagram I've seen, it's a single molded plastic piece. From what I can tell, your issue is the impeller that fell apart, so you would only need to replace part 10 in the diagram. As said earlier, you can always put on a smaller impeller, but NEVER put on a bigger one.

I don't know if its the age of the pump that's the issue, but the parts are much more expensive than newer pumps. I was seeing impellers for about double the usual price on several different sites.
 
You should really keep your posts together so people have a history: pool-pump-rattling-noise-t71726.html

The diffuser is primarily to help equalize the axial and radial loads on the motor shaft when the operating point is off of the Best Efficiency Point (BEP). Operating without the diffuser, could cause the seals and/or motor bears to fail prematurely. However, there are many pump lines, mostly smaller pumps, that do not use diffusers because the smaller pumps have less load and the volute is designed to work without the diffuser. So it is hard to say for sure if this would be a problem or not.

However, it is also hard to say if the diffuser needs to be replaced from that picture. It needs to be removed from the pump housing to inspect all sides and look for broken pieces.
 
thanks for the replies, so a small update I was able to find the impeller and diffuser although the impeller is for a 1HP, so no big deal as long as the pump works correctly.

the website I ordered from was pool parts unlimited.com and they have lots of parts including so older pumps like mine.

will update once the parts come in, thanks again I am learning a lot just by browsing the boards.
 
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