Pump failing to prime - clogged suction line?

Postby **Henry_R** » Thu 09 Jul, 2009 20:50

Ok, I guess it'll be ok. Wish us luck to get a good bid on the bearings. $250-$300 for the seals and bearings is what I'm hoping for. That'd be $100-150 for the bearings+labor. I won't hold my breath.

We're working on getting a bucket of cal-hypo vs buying by the bag. :idea:

We've been spending around $30 per week for shock and that's 6-1lb bags at a time.
So a 50lb bucket will hopefully last 6 weeks and cost $181 making it 1.81 per pound for
$10.86 per week. Which is almost 2/3 less.

Postby **Henry_R** » Thu 16 Jul, 2009 23:39

Update:

The bid came in $143 for the valve seals and motor seals to be replaced including $85 for labor.
Then we asked about changing the bearings and they told us they don't do that type of work.
They gave us a cost of $228.01 more for the motor for a total of $390.40 and that's just the
motor no additional labor. They underquoted the deal and we're lucking out. It would be $61
more if they quoted correctly, but they're standing by their original quote. Needless to say
they got the deal; they start on Monday.

We also got that 50lb bucket of cal-hypo. $117 is not bad.
I put 10lbs in there on Sunday night. I think I'll use that
much tomorrow since it's getting green again. :sick:

Ok, next question: :?:

Is there such a thing as a portable pump that can be rented so we can vacuum the bottom
of the pool of debris like sticks and leaves? I've not found anything online so I must either
be search for the wrong terms or it doesn't exist. I found reference to using a motor/pump/filter
as a portable unit but nothing rentable. The company that's doing the above work wants to charge
$400 to clean the bottom of the pool. This includes draining it. We don't really want to drain it
until we are going to have it replastered since the water bill is likely to be a lot. And we might
not even be allowed to refill it due to the drought conditions of late.

It's been suggested to rent a portable pump and use that to clean the bottom.
So where do I find such a unit assuming it exists and is available?

Postby **Denali** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 07:02

Hi Henry,

If you only have sticks and leaves on the bottom you might be able to use a leaf eater. It won't clean dead algae or any kind of dirt. Made just for leaves and debris that can be trapped in it's mesh bag. They attach to a garden hose and your pole. Very good for leaves. Cost about $35 or so.

If that isn't what you have in mind check a local rental place or Home Depot to see if they have anything that would fit the bill for you.

Good luck with it.

Postby **mr_clean** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 11:31

Henry,
I think your getting a good deal for the work being done and replacing the motor is your best bet as you normally get a 1yr warranty with it so ask about it and do what's needed for it. Bearing jobs do not normally have any warranty that comes with it unless they want to give you one.

As for debris in the pool, do you guys not have a pool pole & net? you can remove debris this way unless they are giant debris which you can still manipulate to the shallow end and normally grab them. I have pulled out patio-chairs before that have blown in without going in the pool. Know cutting back all the bushes/trees around the pool is going to assure you of a much easier pool to take care of in the future.

good luck glad your getting pool fixed

Postby **Henry_R** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 11:57

As yet we have limited pool equipment since we were not maintaining the pool before June.
We'll have to get some stuff but storage is a problem we don't have anywhere to put the
supplies when we get the. For example I have to store the trichlor tabs and the powdered shock
in my home for lack of another space near the pool.

Postby **mr_clean** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 12:32

you can buy something that can attach to a wall so these things like a pool pole, net, brush can stay by the pool and can even be locked down with a small chain/lock or covered-up just depends on what you want or like. Also there are small sheds that can store pool chem's, equipment that are cheap.
Heck you have already done such a good job whats a little more so the headaches gone

Postby **Henry_R** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 18:09

We have no walls to attach to by the pool. We had a pool building, but it was torn down ~10 years ago due
to having a flat roof and poor maintenance. All we have now is a rought-iron fence on all four sides.

We do have an 'emergency hook' on some hooks on one side of the fence, but no room for anything else.

Trouble with a shed that isn't a permanent structure is if we have another hurricain like we did last
year it would not survive and might become a missile. The proximity of the pool to the units is less
than 10 feet. We cannot afford to have a permanent one built either since we have to fix damage
from Hurricain IKE last September still. And we don't want to assess for the money since our
monthly dues are already high enough($309-$324 per month) that we have 50% of the homeowners
behind on their dues and two about to be foreclosed on due to chronic non-payment.
And there are only 30 units.

Postby **Henry_R** » Fri 17 Jul, 2009 18:16

mr_clean wrote:Henry,
I think your getting a good deal for the work being done and replacing the motor is your best bet as you normally get a 1yr warranty with it so ask about it and do what's needed for it. Bearing jobs do not normally have any warranty that comes with it unless they want to give you one.

As for debris in the pool, do you guys not have a pool pole & net? you can remove debris this way unless they are giant debris which you can still manipulate to the shallow end and normally grab them. I have pulled out patio-chairs before that have blown in without going in the pool. Know cutting back all the bushes/trees around the pool is going to assure you of a much easier pool to take care of in the future.

good luck glad your getting pool fixed

Yeah, we took it without question since it is no doubt the best we're likely to find given the time frame we need. I'm going to work on getting that big stuff off to pool floor. The home depot I tried had nothing to vacuum the pool for rent, but they have a tool to attach a
hose to and collect debris by using that. It's expensive so I'll have to talk to the board before I go and get one but I have a feeling it's our best bet for now.

As for cutting the hedges: the big problem is there is only a 24" wide path between the pool fence and the units on either side. When we cut the hedges or even when the yard service mows and edges weekly inevitibly debris ends up in the pool. The majority of what's on the bottom (twigs and sticks) though
is from Hurricane Ike last Sept. No one saw fit to properly collect that debris or we couldn't afford to
have it done and it's been there since.

Postby **Henry_R** » Tue 21 Jul, 2009 13:50

Well, the guy replaced the motor and he found our problem why it failed to prime causing the pump to run dry to begin with: a gauge on the suction line that was old, rusted and inoperable was leaking air.
He removed it and plugged the hole. Viola! No more air leak.

Now the pump is fixed we can go onto just maintaining the pool for the rest of the summer.

Hooray!

Bill · Postby **Bill** » Tue 21 Jul, 2009 17:01

I am more then happy to come help. We are a full service HOA Pool Company you can research us more Thanks, Bill

Postby **Denali** » Wed 22 Jul, 2009 07:33

Henry_R wrote:Well, the guy replaced the motor and he found our problem why it failed to prime causing the pump to run dry to begin with: a gauge on the suction line that was old, rusted and inoperable was leaking air.
He removed it and plugged the hole. Viola! No more air leak.

Now the pump is fixed we can go onto just maintaining the pool for the rest of the summer.

Hooray!

Glad to hear it Henry. Good luck with the maintaining.

Postby **Henry_R** » Fri 24 Jul, 2009 01:56

All seems to be going well for the second day. It should be the third day, but late on Tuesday night
I went to the pool the check the chlorine and found water everywhere. The chlorine feeder had
a broken tube where it comes from the pool return line. The tube was so old that it readily cracked
when the feeder which is not bolted down was moved so the man could get the motor in and out.
I had to replace both hoses to the feeder and now the pump is able to be used again.
7 ft cost under $12 so it was worth it in the end. I need to bolt the feeder down, but there is no
outlet to power my drill so I'm going to have to figure out who to ask for use of a power outlet.

Postby **Henry_R** » Thu 20 Aug, 2009 17:44

I haven't posted in awhile. Just a follow up. It's been almost a month now. Trichlor in the feeder. CYA seems ok hovering about 100 then down to around 75 after I backwashed and filled up couple of times. TC and FC normal. pH stable between 7.2-7.5, TA 90-110. Motor is uprated to 1.3HP vs 1HP before so filter psi is about 2 psi higher than with the old motor, but that's not an issue.

And the sparkling clear water is fantastic! If not for the drain cover preventing our getting a permit people could go swimming. But we still have hurricane damage from last Sept to deal with and spending $1300 for a new cover + antivacuum switch on the pump is not in the budget. I think lots of that is labor too.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I guess I'm done with this thread. Please consider it closed.
Until next time,
Henry