Expert: roger - 7/3/2009

Question
My pool filter hums when I turn it on.  I just replaced the sand and it has been working perfectly for 2 months.  The pool & filter are only 4 years old.  What should I do?

Answer
People tend to confuse the terminology when they call with a pool problem so we shall start there. The pool has a wall drain called a skimmer to supply water to the pump and remove debris off the top of the water with a basket to catch large debris. The pump consists or a wet end and the electrical motor. The wet end of the pump holds the water and a basket for catching debris as well. Inside the wet end is a wheel called an impeller that spins to push out water. The electric motor does the work of spinning the impeller and thus pumping water only. The pump sends the dirty water to a filter of some sort whose purpose is to remove the smallest particles of dirt it can from the water before it goes back to the pool jets called returns. There are three main types of pool filters. The most common, easiest to use but least effective is the sand filter with a large tank of sand and other parts. Next there is a cartridge filter sort of like the air filter on a car and can remove particles the sand filter misses but has expensive cartridges that need to be washed out by hand thus requiring more attention than sand. Finally there is the DE filter which removes even smaller particles from the water but requires a lot of attention and good knowledge of its operation to make it work right. So you have the pool, the pump and the filter as three separate entities as well as optional heater and chemical feeders. Now that I have rambled its the start switch circuitry of your motor making it hum or a seized impeller. DO NOT LET it hum long. Have it serviced. Hope this info helps you and others know their pool better.