EdS

Thanks. Just went over county inspection reports for last couple years. Only red flag report showed a littl above max, but some of them were down in the low 7.x range... 7.2, 7.4. Is that too low to cause a problem? The pool man comes twice per week and the county inspector comes quarterly. Ed

In an earlier thread I described a severe corrosion probmlem on the anchors for our slide. We are being sent new plastic anchors by SR Smith, so the problem's solved. Nonetheless, I'm curious about what caused the problem. One thing mentioned by SR Smith is that "salt chlorination" can cause corrosion. What I'd like to know is if our Rola-Chem chlorinator could be doing salt chlorination. Ed

Just got a reply to my second plea from SR Smith. They are going to ship us a set of new plastic anchors, or "flanges" as they call them. They won't corrode for sure, and I'm hoping they will last longer than 3 years. Ed

As I said, I don't think we have a saltwater chlorinator, since we do not have a saltwater pool. We do have an automatic chlorinator. Is it possible that it uses salt?

This is what our SR Smith slide anchors look like after about 3 1/2 years of service. Is this normal? SR Smith says it's because "poor water chemistry or a pool that utilizes a salt chlorination system or chemical used to clean the deck." Our pool man comes twice per week and the county inspector comes quarterly, so that can't be an issue. The deck is cleaned with fresh water from the garden hose. We do have an chlorinator, but I assum all pools do. So, are they blowing smoke or what? Is there a better anchor? The ones removed when we replaced the slide & anchors in 2006 had been in service for well over 20 years. They were not rubber coated as the current SR Smith product is. TIA Ed

The Pool Center came today and did some leak tests. Found a leak under the deck around the skimmer used by the pool guy for vacuum hookup. They said that was the most likely cause of the low vacuum suction and the air in pump inlet and bubbles in the return water. They also look over the equipment room. They said the copper suction pipe (see earlier photos) on the right is from the bottom drain and is normally closed. It was. When we opend the gate valve in it and shut down the other gate valve (from skimmers) we still were getting air. He said that's probably due to the Band-aid at around the pipe near the concrete. Proved it was leaking there by shutting down the pump, causing a squirt from under the Band-aid. So now I wait till they give me some estimates for repair. Will put off doing anything about the motor/pump noise till we decide what to do about the leaks. I'm thinking maybe a lot of the noise is due to all that air going through the impeller. Ed

Thanks for the data point. Our regular pool man says it's the bearings but not urgent to fix. He quoted $495 for a new motor, including labor. I found another local guy with Google who will replace the motor bearings and go through the pump too, replacing what's needed. He extimates $300 tops. The company that replaced the skimmers and did pressure tests in 2006 will come Friday to assess the situation, then I'll decide what to do.

I'll take it off and have a look. Where would the pin holes be? Hopefully, above the concrete! I'll replace the gate valve packing. Will call the company that did the tests before... same outfit that replaced the skimmers. Thanks for tip. It should be replaced. Much appreciate the help. Ed

Pump seal was replaced a few months ago. No wetness around pump. Doesn't cavitation (due to air) cause noise? Or something lodged in the impeller? I'm a novice, obviously, but I've been probing the Web on the subject and found that somewhere. I just got an email from WisperFlo (to the question posed to them last week). They say if it doesn't say "Born on" by the date it's the end of warranty date. I'll look into that. BTW, there's a solar panel in our system, and I understand some of the benefit of dual speeds is not realized when solar is used. Pool guy says same... says to take the watchful waiting approach. But we're just starting our prime swimming season, and don't want it to fail some friday afternoon! Thanks for your help. At some point I'll probably have to call one of the bigger pool companies and have them diagnose the problem. Just trying to learn all I can before I do so I can deal with them better.

Our regular pool guy put the pool back in service after the replaster job, and at that time I'm sure he cleaned the filter. That was last November as I recall. Has probably done it since too. I'll ask. No auto cleaner A couple weeks ago a member reported no water to the slide and the pump making an awful racket. We found the basket lid off completely! We put it back on and got the pump going again. The gasket look OK, but there was no evidence of use of lube on it. I've since read it should be used. Just got some Magic Lube Teflon today. I'm gonna tell the pool guy to be sure to use it. He replaced the pump gasket a while back, and I'll bet he didn't use any lub there too. Sometimes wonder if he knows what he's doing, but he's been with us a long time. He says the problems with low suction for vacuuming started after the work on the pool was done... after the deck project in 2006, or perhaps after the replastering last November. I'll have to ask him. The Bandaid I was referring to is the piece of rubber strapped on the right copper inlet where it comes out of the concrete. My guess is the pipe has corroded through there and someone "fixed" it that way. The company that did our deck in 2006 put in a valve near the side skimmer. I've close it with no effect. Pool guy attaches his vacuum to the other skimmer and reports low suction at the skimmer near the deep end even with the side skimmer closed. There are also valves in the copper pipe near the pump but I've not played with them. BTW, why is one of those copper inlet pipes 2" and the other 1 3/4"? The filter is diatomaceous earth. Thanks for your help. I'll take some more photos and post them. Ed

Background: Community pool. Deck replaced, new skimmers, & leak tests done in 2006. Replastered in 2009. Symptoms: 1. Bubbles in the stream where pump water returns to the pool. 2. The pump inlet striner cavity doesn't look to be completely full. But, I don't really know exactly what it's supposed to look like. 3. Noisy pump/motor 4. Pool man complains of insufficient suction. Here are links to some photos and videos: http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/BubblesPoolReturn.JPG http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/InletLeak.JPG (looks like someone has applied a BandAid here) http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/MVI_2757.AVI (Pump Inlet strainer view port) http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/MVI_2760.AVI (Pump Outlet view port) From scanning the postings here I'm pretty sure we have a leak in the inlet somewhere, but I don't know how to preceed. As an ME, I would think we should get someone to try backflushing the two inlet pipes. Advice will be appreciated. Ed

Here is the pump nameplate: http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/PumpNameplate.JPG and the motor: http://www.efsowell.us/ed/projects/PoolPump/MotorNameplate.JPG BTW, I now see we have a WFE-4 pump rather than WF-4. Don't know if it's properly controlled to use the dual speeds. In a separate topic called Inlet Leaks I'll give some links to photos and video showing the symptoms of the problem I'm dealing with. TIA Ed

the WhisperFlo WF-4 pump on our community pool is getting a bit noisy. Don't know yet whether it's the pump or motor. Is there an easy way to tell? Another question. The pump name plate gives a date 9/10/2009. However, I am the treasurer for our HOA and have no record of having replaced the pump that recently. Is it possible that the name plate date is the warranty expiration date rather thn the build date? Thanks in advance.