Pool care blog
Signs Your Pool Pump Needs Repair
· 5 min read
Screeching bearings, lost prime and rising energy bills are all warnings. Here's how to read them before the motor fails.
Noise is the earliest warning
A healthy pump hums. A screeching or grinding pump is telling you the motor bearings are failing, and bearings rarely fail gracefully — you usually have weeks, not months. Replacing bearings early is far cheaper than replacing a seized motor in mid-July when everyone else's pump is failing too.
Losing prime
If the pump loses prime or the basket will not stay full of water, air is entering the suction side. Common culprits are a dry or cracked pump lid o-ring, a low water level, a clogged skimmer or a leak in the suction plumbing. Air in the system also starves the filter and makes chemistry harder to hold.
Leaks at the pad
Water dripping under the pump usually means the mechanical shaft seal has failed. Running a pump with a failed seal pushes water into the motor and destroys it, so this is a stop-and-fix item rather than a watch-and-wait one.
Rising energy costs
A single-speed pump that is working harder against a restricted filter or failing impeller draws more power. If your summer electric bill has crept up and your filter pressure is high, the pump is compensating for something else.
Repair or replace
On equipment older than eight to ten years, a repair costing more than half the price of a new variable-speed pump usually is not worth it. The efficiency gain from a modern variable-speed unit typically recovers the difference within a couple of seasons.