Pentair Challenger Pump Repair
Your pool was running just fine yesterday, but today it’s making a crazy loud noise! It’s possible you can have your Pentair Challenger Pump Repaired, but should you?
It seems like these things always happen at night or during the weekend when there is no one around to help. This is what happen here when all was working just fine during the day, but in the evening the pump started making the loudest screeching noise ever! This customer called and left us a voicemail message requesting help for a possible service repair. We responded the next day, ready to tackle the situation.
Pool Pump Repair Diagnosis Steps
- On arrival, the technician turned off the pump to safely diagnose,
- Opened the pump basket lid and removed the pump basket.
- He checked the throat of the pump to make sure there was not anything stuck in the impeller.
- Though in most cases this would not cause the loud screeching sound. However, it is good to first rule out all the simple and less expensive causes. Also, if there were any debris in the impeller, it would most likely prevent the pump from priming up all the way. In this case, the pump was fully primed.
New Pentair VSF Pump vs. New Single Speed Motor
In most cases when the pool pump motor bearings go bad. The remedy is to replace the motor or even the whole pump in many instances. You might be thinking that is an expensive fix, but in the long run it’s a lot cheaper, here’s why. In July 2021 legislation was passed in an effort to conserve energy and meet the Department of Energy regulations on energy efficiency. The regulation states that all new pool pumps or pool pump replacement will need to be a variable speed pump (VSF).
With that being said, here is why a variable speed pump would be a better choice. Right now the average customer runs their pool pump a minimum of 8 hrs a day during the summer months. A single speed pump runs at approximately 3100 rpm all day long. This chews up energy and increasing your electric bill.
Conversely, a variable speed pump could save you as much as 40-80% on your monthly electric bill. This is due to a variable speed pump uses far less electricity. How can this be you might ask? A variable speed pump has the ability to run at much slower speeds most of the day. Then when more demand is needed, it can be bumped up to higher speeds to meet that demand.
Such cases might be where the spa is in use, the heater is running or in times where higher filtration is needed. So instead of your motor running all day at 3100 rpm, it now can run at 1500 – 2200 rpm. These lower speeds save you on energy cost. As you can see the possible savings in one year could more than the pump cost.
Challenger Pool Motor Replacement
For our customer, they chose to go with the motor replacement and will make the switch to a VSF pump at a later date. For them, they are planning to have a full pool remodel in the next year or so. After quoting the options and the customer choosing to replace the just the motor. We completed the pump motor repair with a new Century 2hp electric motor. Included with the repair was a new seal kit and diffuser o-ring to ensure longevity of the pump repair.
If you’re in The Woodlands Texas or surrounding areas and need help with a pool pump repair, give us a call, or fill out the request form, we’re ready to help you today.