Possible pump motor bearing failure?

[kballard72]

Full Prime, no air in basket. If there is air it is somewhere between basket and impeller, unseen.

Skimmer is full of water when this is occurring.

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door swings and plenty of water flowing

Would the diffuser O ring cause this issue? How about the diffuser itself?

The o ring between the two halves (exterior that the 6 bolts snug up), am I correct in that, that is pressure side and if an issue that would leak water...

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Additional note: Shaving creme

Foamed up all the joints from the valves to the union, basket lid, and the two plugs... no signs of air being pulled through exterior suction side joints or gakets.

Basket side remains clear of bubbles...

It sounds like maybe the diffuser O ring is not letting the pump fully pressurize and causing the chattering? Or shooting blanks...

[mas985]

Would the diffuser O ring cause this issue? How about the diffuser itself?

I doubt it unless the diffuser was spinning inside the housing but you would have seen signs of that with the old diffuser.

The o ring between the two halves (exterior that the 6 bolts snug up), am I correct in that, that is pressure side and if an issue that would leak water...

Yes, any leaks on the pressure side would be squirting water.


Originally, you had posted this:

It is a hayward tristar and I noticed the white impeller ring (looks like a white bearing race) has numerous etchings as well as the neck of the impeller that it slides over....)

If the the impeller ring is not seated well or the wet end is damaged in some way, it may be possible that there is a periodic loss in pressure due to recirculation losses but this is just speculation at this point.

How badly damaged were the impeller ring and impeller and did you inspect the wet end housing for any cracks?

Also, is the filter filling up with air and do you see any air coming out of the pool returns?

[kballard72]

The impeller wear ring was slightly etched in comparison to the new. after seeing the new, that was probably normal wear. The impeller itself had no damage and kept it as a backup.

Diffuser was not replaced. It also would never be allowed to spin as the tristar has two screws holding it in place

Occasional bubbles at the returns, some air can be let off from the filter (though not seen in the basket).

Looked all on the strainer (suction) side and can spot no cracks..

[PoolDoc]

Sounds like you may need to exorcise the pump pixie!

[kballard72]

It has crossed my mind to have the top two feet jackhammered, back filled, and go back to mowing a lawn....

[mas985]

Ok, I am starting to run out of ideas but I am not willing to give up yet. If you have a suction gauge, it might be helpful to find out what is happening on the suction side of the pump during this period of pressure drop. If the suction increases during this period, it could be cavitation that we are hearing and then we just need to figure out what is causing the suction to increase. If the suction decreases, it could mean that there is something occurring inside the pump besides cavitation. Most gauges with 1/4" fitting will fit the suction side drain plug.

If you want to give up, I completely understand. These types of problems can be very frustrating.

[kballard72]

No suction gauge.

I don't know if this observation would be comparable or just convolute the issue. I have a navigator vac that until this problem, for it to get into the flow spec per the hayward gauge: I would turn both skimmers off and drain valve 1/3 off, so the navigator would have max flow.

With this problem occurring to see if I could get the thing to sweep at all, with the drain almost closed off, skimmers completely shut down, could only get to low end of the hayward flow gauge...

Will see if I can locate an actual suction gauge.