We're Back in Business

Last post I discovered all kinds of badness with the existing pump motor, a 2Hp behemoth that had reached the end of its working life. All kinds of damage from decayed plastic and electrics in the back end of the pump.

I didn't discover the damage till I opened the back of the motor so that I could secure the motor shaft in order to remove the broken impeller. I had to unscrew two electrical pieces, a switch assembly thing and the main starting capacitor for the motor. As I loosened the screws, the plastic pieces just all began falling apart. Apparently, they were staying in place simply because the screw was there. Nothing else was holding them together.

The - not sure what it's called - the spindle that was part of the impeller, was extremely tight on the shaft and was quite hard to get free. That effort was all for naught, what with all the broken electrics.

From there, it was apparent that I had to get a new motor. I wasn't sure what my options for getting that new motor were going to be. I could order it from the states, Inyo Pool Supplies always comes to mind in that regard, or I could see if maybe Island Pool Supply happened to have one on hand.

Complicating matters, was this was Christmas weekend. Neither place would be open. Oh, I could probably order it online from Inyo, but nothing would happen until humans came back to work after the holiday. Even if the pump qualified for Inyo's free shipping, there was still additional expenses getting the motor to Corozal. That would involve Easy Shipping to Belize's shipping fees, Belize Custom's duty, GST, etc., that would be tacked on. Since the motor is rather large in its box, and it weighed in the vicinity of 45 pounds, shipping was not going to be cheap. That and the other costs were going to come close to doubling the cost of the motor. Not to mention the time frame for shipping. I wanted a quick solution, and chances were, this would not be quick.

On the other hand, if Island Pool Supply had one in stock, I would pay more for the motor, but the international shipping, duty, taxes, etc., would all be figured into that cost. The only tangible cost that would accrue, would be shipping from San Pedro to Corozal, either by Tropic Air or by Thunderbolt. And, I really didn't know if Island would be opened after Christmas and Boxing Day, or if they were taking a long vacation and not opening till after New Years. Regardless, this would most likely still be quicker that coming from the states.

I sent Kevin an email telling him what model, etc., pump motor I was looking for. I just hoped he would open after Christmas and answer my email. Oh, and that he would have the exact motor in stock that I needed.

Luck was smiling on me. Kevin answered my email first thing Tuesday morning. Boxing Day isn't such a big holiday when you're in business for yourself. He had it in stock and could get it on Tropic or the Thunderbolt by noon,

The only problem was, I needed to deposit some money into my bank account in order to transfer money to his account before he would turn loose of the motor. That meant waiting until Wednesday morning when the bank would be open. They religiously pay heed to holidays, as banks tend to do.

Bright and early Wednesday morning, I was sixth in line at Atlantic. Made my deposit, and back home, transferred the money to Kevin's account and told him to send it via Tropic.

About 1:30 PM that same day, I went up to the Corozal Airstrip and retrieved the motor from Tropic's freight office. Forty-five pounds weight is expensive when it comes to shipping by air. $30.00 BZD and I had my motor.

Back home, I opened the box on the dining room table. The packaging was impressive. It was held in an expanded foam cocoon, plus there were various cardboard bits that protected the shaft from damage, along with a glob of blue plastic that protected the threaded shaft end from damage. As you can see below, it's all shiny-shiny.

Our New Pool Pump Motor

The new motor arrived in flawless condition. But, by that time, I was pooped and it was time for a break. I would tackle putting the pump and motor together in the morning.

Showing the Motor Back End

I laid out all the parts and that went together like clockwork. I forgot to have my camera nearby so there are no photos of the assembly. Assembly took place on the dining room table, which also does double duty as the crafts table for Dianna. I guess, triple-duty since I used it as my alternate workshop for this project.

Pump Back Panel and Wiring

This motor, a US Motor, which is from an alternate supplier, NIDEC Motor Corporation (http://www.usmotors.com), and not the standard A.O. Smith motor that Hayward uses with their pumps. Not that there's anything wrong with A.O. Smith motors, it's just that the US Motor I have is a touch better from an engineering perspective.

For example, the rear panel of the motor unbolts easily from the back of the motor. The layout of the electrical bits inside is a lot more user-friendly. Other than replacing a capacitor or something, the only reason you need to open up the back of the motor is to use a wrench to keep the motor shaft from turning while you spin on the impeller at the other end of the motor.

Wiring Protection

The connection points for the power cord (which you have to attach as the motor doesn't come with a power cord - not unusual) are likewise easy to reach and connect.

I did have to add a large radius elbow that screws into the motor housing, and I added about 10-inches of Polyducto (plastic) orange tubing to help prevent the wire from bending too much and possibly breaking.

Pool is Working Again

After the assembly, I carried it down to the pool pump house and hooked it up. It works great. You can tell that by the ripples evident on the pool surface at left.

However (There's always one of those, isn't there?), on the suction side of the pump, that is the side of the pump where the water enters the pump, I have a leak. The good bit of that is the leak is only when I have Huey (the vacuum cleaner) running.

Possible Leak Sources?

There is the possibility that the two connectors (the white one and the gray one in the photo at left) could be leak sources, possibly sucking air into the system. I doubt they are leaking because if the pump is running without Huey working, no bubbles, and probably more telling, no water dripping when the system is idle.

More likely is that the leak is in the hose that connects Huey to the piping. At this time of year, that presents a problem.

Could Be A Leaky Hose?

To find the leak in the hose, I really need to be in the pool playing with each section of hose to find the leak. The pool is kinda cool right now, thanks to the cold temps pushing down from the states.

I was in the pool yesterday, picking up five chlorine tablets that fell out of the floating chlorine dispenser because I didn't securely fasten the lid on it when I threw the dispenser into the pool.

I left the tablets lay there for a few days, but Huey, being the good vacuum that he is, managed to suck one up and jam his intake, necessitating my braving the elements getting into the pool and retrieving the tablets. Getting in, was a shock, as the water is only about 74°(f). After you freeze your nerve endings, it doesn't feel so bad till your teeth start chattering.

I do have a small leak on the pressure side of the pump. You can see it in the photo at left. This will be easy to fix. Probably several more wraps of Teflon tape should do the trick.

Definitely a Small Leak

There's not much else that could be leaking as bubbles only occur when the vacuum is working.

Hopefully, when I do find the leak, it's in the hose, and only in one section of the hose at that. I suppose there is one other possibility of leakage. If the vacuum line under the pool deck is leaking... but, I'm not even going to think about that being a possibility.

We Had Hi-igh Hopes...

Yes, we had hi-igh hopes. High apple pie in the sky-ye hopes

All the Long-Awaited New Parts

That was how it seemed when I started working on the main pool pump right after breakfast. As you can see at the left, all the brand new parts for the main pool pump, including the seal pieces right up front. That was what was holding the whole production up, waiting to get those two little bits in.

But then, as I worked to dismantle the motor from the rest of the pump body, bad news just came rolling in.

Center Bolt Thing Had to be Removed

First off, I had to loosen what looks like a bolt in the image at left. That part should be buried inside the impeller. That is, it should be bonded with the plastic of the impeller so that it is one piece. That was where the impeller sheared off leaving the bolt thing tightly on the shaft. the big round part of the impeller is what freewheeled and began destroying the diffuser. That is when I got involved after hearing the racket.

I had to open the back end of the motor to get a wrench in to hold the shaft still while I hopefully loosened the center bolt thing.

Doing that let me see just how bad the motor really was. Plastic parts making up the electrical bits of the motor were cracked badly and in a couple of cases, as I loosened the screws holding them in place, bits of plastic fell out, allowing the whole component to essentially disintegrate. The white piece of plastic in the photo below should be oriented a bit differently than it is. Of course, it should also be in one piece.

Bad News At the Back End

It soon became apparent that the motor was not going to be working anymore - ever.

Initially, I was afraid I'd have to replace the whole pump, motor and all. It quickly became apparent that I should just have to replace the motor and a few parts in addition to all the parts I already had.

My task now at hand was to remove that pesky bolt thing from the shaft, which would allow me to salvage the seal plate and the motor mounting plate and four bolts. Altogether, about $100.00 US worth of parts.

I finally got that loose, which was no easy task, and managed to salvage the two plates and bolts. So, All I have to do now is buy a new motor and a little rubber part, like a flat washer, called a 'slinger.'

The new motor will run about $210.00 US and the slinger will run $4.00 US. A lot better than what I thought was going to be a complete pump/motor replacement for around $400.00 US.

Of course, those costs will vary, depending on where I can get the motor. If Island Pool has one in stock, that will add about another $100.00 US to the cost. It will be about the same if I have to order the motor from the States. Possibly more, as I would have to add in GST (Goods and Services Tax) Sales Tax, Duty, and Environmental Fees.

What is attractive with Island Pool, is if they have it in stock, I can be up and running in a day or two. No matter how it goes with stateside ordering, it's about a month away from being able to do anything.

And since this is the Saturday before Christmas, Island isn't open today. I have to wait till Wednesday for them. I could order from the states right now, but that delay is daunting.

Nothing for it right now except to have a nice cold Belikin and hopefully watch the pool temp go up with the new addition to the heater.

Have a great weekend, a wonderful Christmas, and a prosperous New Year.

Once Again, It's Saturday

Saturday, 26 November, 2016.

I was watching a documentary movie about Keith Richard, Under the Influence, very nice stuff about him, who influenced him, even some of his very private family life. I got a nice quote from him, 'No one wants to get old, but no one wants to die young either.'

All the rain we got last evening and night was a sprinkling about 4:00 PM, so the Diamond Brite was able to set and harden up in great fashion. On with today's activities.

A not too unusual occurrence down here is stores running out of things just when you wanted or needed to buy it. Case in point with our project. The sky blue paint color that we are using on this project. It comes from Sherwin Williams paints in Corozal. They're out of the pigments needed to mix it (it's in their computer), and we need another gallon. Can't do anything about it except wait for it to come in. SW says probably this coming week. There you go.

Case in point again. Diamond Brite, the coating we're using as the final cover for the pool itself (the white stuff), comes from Island Pool Supply over in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye. IPS says they'll be out of it for two weeks. Can't do anything about it except wait for it to come in. There you go (Didn't I just hear that somewhere?).

Luckily, we have another minor project for them to work on in the interim. Our fence at the very back. It broke due to the same issues that affected the pool. Mario's boys will be fixing that along with patching the dock hole and the remains of the ditch in the garden adjacent to the fence.

So, what's going to be happening this week is finishing the Diamond Brite edging on the pool, at least till it runs out, sealing the deck and ramp floors, hooking up wiring and plumbing for the waterfall motor, hooking up the new water supply for both the house and the pool, a small light above the waterfall, ramp railings and pump house door, and hooking up the deck lights and speaker, and screen doors with doggie doors for either side of the deck. I think that's about all the little stuff that's hanging fire.

Here's what happened Friday.

Diamond Brite Advances Today

Applying Diamond Brite to the edge and bull-nose of the pool. Also adding some to the patches on the pool floor.

Around the Spa It Goes

It looks quite dramatic around the spa. I think they stopped at the angle they did because they weren't quite sure how they were going to deal with the Diamond Brite around the pool hand rail.

Even Filling Patches on the Floor

Left over from each batch of Diamond Brite is being added to the patches on the pool floor.

Rene Working His Trowel On the North

Rene doing the bull-nose along the north side of the pool. It just looks so good when he's done with it.

One of Noel's Homemade Toys?

I think one of Noel's makeshift toys ended up draped over one the beams.

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Who'da Thunk It?

What would be your guess as to the one thing in someone's yard that would be among the items least likely to go kerflooey? Hey, that's spelled right - I even looked it up! Come on, take a guess. What do you think?

How about playing twenty questions?

• Is it Animal, Vegetable or Mineral? Other
• Is it used for entertainment? Partly
• Is it black? No
• Would you use it in the dark? Sometimes
• Do most people use this daily? Unknown
• Is it harvested? No
• Does it fold up easily? No
• Is it hard? Yes
• Is it smaller than a bread box? No
• Can it scratch? No
• Does it use numbers? No
• Does it have a handle? Yes
• Is it electronic? No
• Does it get wet? Yes
• Does it shine? No
• Is it white? Irrelevant
• Do you hold it when you use it? No
• Can you smell it? No
• Does it usually have four corners? No
• Do you use it at work? No
• Is it outside? Yes
• Does it move? No

The twenty-questions game I found on the Internet guessed it was a bidet. I'm not sure how many people would keep their bidet outside, but what do I know? Actually, bidet was a close guess... Give up? OK, it's a swimming pool filter, which sort of operates on the same principal as a bidet.

This story actually begins about two years ago. A small leak began inside the pool pump house, or I should say more properly, the pool mechanical house. Whatever. Anyway, that small leak caused me no end of hassle trying to localize it. First, I thought it was this, then that, and then the other thing. Mostly I was wrong. Oh sure, I did find several small leaks now and then. I think leaks go with the territory - piping, water, vibration - all lend themselves to creating leaks.

Anyway this one drove me to distraction. I would think I found the source, get it corrected and next thing I knew, more water on the floor. But, I could never really zero in on the source. It was always a mystery.

That is, till five days ago. I came down to the pool Sunday morning and noticed the water level had gone down two tiles. Uh oh, something's wrong. I went directly over to the pump mechanical house, opened the door, and there was no doubt. I could hear water running behind the filter, but I couldn't see or feel anything because the filter was almost right up against the wall.

I checked the small drain valve at the bottom of the tank just to make sure it wasn't leaking. Nope. It was fine. I felt around the top of the tank just in case I wasn't seeing the leak. Nope. Nothing there. Slowly it became apparent to me just what was leaking.

I shut off all the valves that would allow water to flow to the filter. That stopped the strong flow of water. It now became a trickle as the residual water in the tank drained off. I also now opened the small drain valve to help get rid of what water remained.

My next task was to see if there was any way to get a replacement tank in a hurry. The short answer was no. The long explanation was that yes, I could get one from one of several vendors up north. But after purchasing the tank, there was still shipping to our freight forwarder in Florida, their fees, then Belize duty and 12.5% GST, and presto, I would be into real money, not to mention the time delays till I could actually get my hands on the tank.

That took care of Monday. A little research, other daily chores, going out to lunch with friends, etc., pretty well filled up the rest of the day.

Tuesday, I checked with Island Pool Supply over in San Pedro. They could get one, but pretty much the same constraints as me ordering from up north would apply as they didn't have one in stock. However, Don told me they did have several TA-60s in stock (I was trying to replace a TR-60.). He told me I could get a complete TA-60 (tank and 6-position valve) for a bit less than the TR-60 tank alone.

That meant I could order it that morning and have it PDQ. Well, almost. First Wednesday, I had to go to Belize Bank and transfer money from our account to Island Pool Supply (If you're wondering, they don't take bank cards). Then I had to email them a PDF of the deposit slip to their account. That gave them enough time to get the complete filter down to the Thunderbolt water taxi so it would get up here to Corozal by 5:00 PM.

Since we went Jamrock for supper with Denis and Vivien, it was easy for Denis and I to slip away and get over to the Thunderbolt pier - about two minutes away and pick up the box. We were both amazed at how much freight came out of that boat, not to mention a boat-load of passengers. Shipping via Thunderbolt was very reasonable. It only cost $20.00 BZD.

That brings us to Thursday morning. Bright and early. But first, an aside. Wednesday evening, I had been searching YouTube to find a video on easily removing sand from the filter. I already had experience with doing it the hard way and the mess all over the floor that resulted. Dianna suggested trying to borrow a Shop-Vac to speed the removal up. My Shop-Vac is in pieces as I'm currently trying to get the motor rehabbed so that it will work again.

I called Graham Thursday morning. He had one and I could borrow it. I jumped into the Isuzu (did I mention we have the Isuzu back now - after about two-months in the shop?). Ask the doggies about that. They think they've led a deprived life with no rides for all that time. Anyway, I grabbed the doggies and we ran over to the house where Graham is house-sitting (Jim and Melanie's old place for those who remember them, or Don's place for those whose memories are more recent) and picked up the Shop-Vac.

Back home, I got to work getting about 325-lbs of wet sand out of the old filter. After a couple of hours, all the sand had been removed and I was then able to disconnect the filter from the piping and remove it from the mech-house.

Finally, I was able to see the extent of damage. As you can see below, the rip runs almost a whole foot vertically in the fiberglass of the tank. Plus, the discerning reader will notice some discoloration indicating a smaller leak that had existed for some time. How about two years? There's the source of the phantom leak. Finally!

Rip in the Fiberglass Filter Tank

Here's the sand that I took out of the filter. Almost got it all into the plastic bin, but just ran a bit shy.

Sand Ready to Go Back In

Looking at the wall inside the mechanical house, you can see easily where the leak had been going for quite some time. But with the filter right up against the wall, it was impossible to see where it was located.

Showing Leak Traces

 Here's a shot of the new filter, this time with the valve on the top of the tank instead of the side.

The New TA-60D Filter Mock-up

And in this shot, I'm adding the sand back in to the new filter tank. Since it was only a few months ago that I replaced the sand, reusing the sand made perfect sense. Even though wet, it still vacuumed easily and also went back in the same.

Adding Sand to the New Filter

Late Thursday afternoon, the new filter is in place, completely filled with sand. All that remains now is to rework and connect the piping. I'll start of that project tomorrow.

New Filter With Sand Sans Piping

Now, I'm not even going to ask what could possibly break next or go wrong. I'm ready for some uneventful mornings and afternoons - at least for a while.

Oh, I almost forgot. I put the old filter (minus the side valve) in the large cardboard box the new one came in, labeled it conspicuously 'BROKEN' on three side and put it out beside our trash bin. Around 5:00 PM, or so, some Mexican scrap metal scroungers stopped and loaded the whole thing onto their already overloaded pickup truck, and away they went. I just hope I don't head out tomorrow morning and find the filter and box lying beside the highway somewhere, after they discovered 1) it really was broken, and 2) there was no metal in the thing. I really don't want to bring it back.

So, What Else Is Gonna Break?

This is about a couple of broken things. Both happen to be the control head or valve for the pool filter. You can see the thing in the photo below.

The Broken Filter Valve

In this photo, I've removed the head of the valve to show the first repair job I did. A part of the ridge that holds the spider gasket (the black rubber in the photo) had broken and I super-glued it back into place. You can see, if you look closely, where the screw driver is pointing, a faint outline showing the break, which is still holding good. It broke right before our visitors from up north came. Thankfully, I was able to repair it and it held throughout the time they were here.

But, you can also see the other arm of the gasket is slightly bowed where water flowing through the second break, caused this effect.

Repaired Older Break and New Problem

In the photo below, you can see just how large a piece was dislodged. Of course it washed right out of the filter and down the backwash pipe and away, so there was no chance of repairing it.

Showing the Large Broken Bit

I don't know what caused the breaks in either case. Perhaps chlorine aging the plastic, or maybe not being careful enough moving the control head arm when changing valve positions. Either way, it means replacing the valve entirely. There's no way to get just the valve body.

Luckily, Island Pool Supply (http://www.poolsuppliesbelize.com/index.html), over in San Pedro on Ambergris Caye, has a valve that will fit. They'll ship it to me either by Tropic Air or the Thunderbolt Ferry once the money is deposited to their bank account... But, that's another story entirely.