Trouble getting seal plate back into Northstar Pump

[JamesW]

You're spot-on @1poolman1 - the snout fits through the opening just fine, but it's the other pieces that eventually cause the seal plate to not fit flush against the motor mounting plate.

That is very odd and you should contact the motor manufacturer to see what they say about it.

 

[JamesW]

So, the snout hits the seal plate and prevents the seal plate from mating flush to the motor mounting plate?

 

[joelq]

Greetings! From the pictures Joelq sent us, it appears that everything was installed correctly so I'm not 100% sure why the washers were needed, other than the snout interfering with something. Our bottom line for him is that there are a couple of other motor options that don't have the bump-out by the shaft, so we have changed our recommended motors for those pumps on our website. I sent him a couple of different options and noted on his order the issues he had as well as the fact that we recommended it for the NorthStar, so we are happy to take care of him in the future if anything happens and he decides to stick with the motor he has.

The motor shaft length from the mounting face is the same on both motors (the old one and the new VS one), so the addition of the washers is troubling since it changes the position of the impeller. Since many of the parts for this pump are difficult/impossible to find, we have cautioned him that a new motor is probably the only option.

Our current variable-speed recommendation for Joelq is either the 2.7HP Nidec motor or the 2.7HP A.O. Smith (Century) motor so that will address any concerns with the horsepower. We are happy to send him whatever he prefers to make sure he gets everything working perfectly.

Thanks, @InyoRich! I really appreciate your help and great support! I'll reply back to you on our PM thread, but for the purposes of keeping everyone posted here - both motors Rich recommends will have a clearance issue for me, as the control panel portion of the current new motor already fits snugly under one of the pipes coming out of (or going into) my heater (see pic). Both of those pumps are higher (thanks, again, Rich for all the measurements!) and will require some re-routing of the PVC. We shall see where I go from here!

 

[JamesW]

The NorthStar is not a good pump in general and I would have just replaced it with a new Variable Speed pump.

 

[mas985]

I have had my Northstar for 18 years and it has been a great performer. There are a few issues like the o-ring and that the pump lid tends to squirt water when shut off but those are pretty minor to me. Other than that, it has been a great spa jet pump.

 

[joelq]

The NorthStar is not a good pump in general and I would have just replaced it with a new Variable Speed pump.

Other than this annoying exercise of re-installing the seal plate, I agree that the Northstar pump is great! And yes, what I did do was just replace the motor with a variable speed one.