pump impeller wear question

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Ranger

Ranger

AC Members
Jun 20, 2001
117
2
18
Everett, WA
Hi All,
Question: when impellers wear out on a centrifugal pump, is it mechanical wear on the bushing/shaft and blades, or is it that the magnets lose their effectiveness due to cycle time? I ask because I have a quite one 3000 I have been running for six years and recently it has failed to start reliably (it’s on a timer). I cleaned the impeller and it improved for a while but stopped “starting” again :). When it doesn’t start, I turn the impeller a half turn with a stick and it usually runs again. Getting it past the dead spot seems more like magnets than mechanical wear, but thought some of you sparkies out there could comment. I’m replacing the impeller anyway, so just curios , Thanks
 
Glabe

Glabe

River Rat
May 10, 2011
1,353
1
0
37
It could be mechanical wear on the machine itself. If it was mine, I'd just replace instead of trying to troubleshooting something that old.

Just my 2 pesos
 
F

fishorama

AC Members
Jun 28, 2006
12,698
2,131
200
SF Bay area, CA
I vote mechanical wear too. It doesn't take much of a scratch from sand or something to make an impeller unhappy. Often there's enough bacterial slime on the magnet to temporarily "fix" it...but it's very temporary IME. Do you use sand or other fine substrate? That's how I've etched mine....You might use a sponge prefilter to keep sand from getting into the impeller...& order 2 impellers when you do...
 
N

Narwhal72

AC Members
Aug 13, 2009
789
45
31
51
It could also be a failing starting capacitor too. Pumps have a capacitor that serves as a starter to help gain inertia and overcome friction when starting. If this capacitor is failing the pump won't start unless you manually overcome the friction (by tapping the impeller manually).

Andy
 
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