Trying to fix an ancient pool pump, advice needed...

[cocheeze]

Hey there,

I am currently in the process of trying to seal up an absolutely ANCIENT water pump... it leaks water profusely from the back of the shaft (between the pump and the motor). The motor itself works flawlessly, and aside from the leak, the pump works great as well. I am sure that almost nobody uses these anymore, but I am hoping that there is someone on this forum who has experience working on them from yesteryear?

It was made by Robbins & Myers and has the following information printed on it:



Before I fired it up this week, it hadn't been ran for at least 5 years, maybe even more like 10.

Anyhow, I removed the inlet housing from the front of the pump in order to try and get at the seal that is leaking (the seal that is leaking is behind everything that is shown if the following picture), and I encountered this rather strange looking squiggly shaped impeller (correct term?) that doesn't appear to have any fasteners or method of removal.



I took a close up picture of the base of the impeller (?) and it has a strange tabbed ring:



Do I perhaps need to pry that ring up in order to get at what fastens the impeller?

Does anybody know how I might remove that piece in order to get at the seals behind it? Furthermore, is there a method of reconditioning the seal without removing the shaft? Maybe some secret oil that makes the seal swell so that it takes up the space better or something?

Thanks in advance for any input!

Best,

Casey

 

[OldPoolMan]

Hi Casey. Been doing pools since 1972 and can probably I'd the pump but I'm not able to view your pictures. Any other way I can view them?

 

[robdac]

Wow! 1970 called an they want their pump back! Cool. Sorry, I'm of no help here.

 

[cocheeze]

robdac: Yeah, I had a feeling I would get a lot of "just toss it and get something made this century" replies... I need to make this pump work, though.

OldPoolMan: I sent you a PM. Not sure why the pictures aren't showing up for you, but I will email you them if you'd like.

 

[Agent99]

I've been seeing folks stating that they cannot see pictures lately but I always see them. Not sure what is up.

Very cool pump...hope you can get it working again.

 

[scooperhsd]

Actually, you can get a Pentair Dynamo 1/2, 3/4 or 1 HP (120 V as well) for not much over $200 . A Hayward PowerFlo II is also available for about the same. I've got a PowerFlo2 3/4 HP (from 1983) that I'm keeping as a spare (we salvaged it from a bathroom renovation) that I have actually used for a couple weeks on my inground pool.

 

[JamesW]

Why do you need to make this pump work?

 

[cocheeze]

Why do you need to make this pump work?

aside from my personal preference for using older, well-built, self-serviceable equipment whenever possible, this particular pump fits like a puzzle piece into a complex infrastructure of filters/valves/rigid water lines/electrical conduit/etc. that would take a lot of time/money/sawzalling to revamp for a different pump.

also, i try my best not to throw away things that work fine just because they need a (hopefully!) simple repair... at least whenever it can be avoided; and i really enjoy fixing things.

of course, if getting at and replacing that rubber seal proves to be more trouble than cutting apart and revamping my entire pump/filtering enclosure, i will do so. hopefully it doesn't come to that!

best,

casey

 

[JamesW]

Are you sure that this is a water pump? I have never seen anything like it. I can't imagine that it could pump any significant amount of water. Do you have any performance specifications? How big is the pool?

 

[cocheeze]

it is definitely a water pump; it pumps water just fine. it can flow through a two stage filter and about 50ft of rather restrictive (3/4") piping to fill a 55 gallon drum in a little over a minute. i know that is probably pretty weak compared to most big modern pool pumps, but for a 1/4 HP progressive cavity water pump that is a few decades old, it really doesn't perform bad at all.

anyhow, i just wanted to ask here on the off chance that someone might have had experience with a pump like this one, but if the pump is really so strange as to make people question wether or not it is in fact a water pump at all, it must be even older and more uncommon than i had realized!

thanks!

 

[JamesW]

That will do 55 gallons a minute? That's more than I would have thought.