Irrigation/Well

Well Pump Noise

The irrigation system on our house has a half-horse Myers pump on it.  I believe it is the same age as the house since it doesn't look like it has ever been replaced.  Last summer I needed to water the lawn a lot because we just wasn't getting enough rain to keep the lawn alive.  The old pump started making  some really strange squealing noises, sometimes worse than others.  I checked out the  motor shaft  and found it to have some drag and a gravely sound when I turned the shaft either way.  Other than the noise the motor seemed fine so I opted to replace the bearings instead of replacing the whole motor.  That not only saved money, but it saved time as well since I didn't have to re-plumb to accommodate a new pump.

Replacing the bearings was easy and inexpensive.  I managed to find new bearings in a local auto parts store for around six dollars each.  After carefully separating the motor halves to expose the bearings I gently tapped the old bearings out with a soft hammer and inserted the new ones.  While I had the motor apart I replaced the impeller also because the plastic looked fatigued and it was less difficult to do it while I had the motor apart than to take it apart again at a later date just to replace the impeller.  So far, the pump is running like a new one and it only cost fifteen dollars total in parts to make the repairs.  Definitely better than having to buy a new motor.