Spectra 340 Catalina Booster Pump Issue

[crayiii]

The booster pump quit on our Spectra unit yesterday after a year of full-time use. I'm trying to better understand this unit and why and how this happened so hopefully someone can help.

I started noticing the unit would go into low output mode after running for 15-30 minutes. The filter condition graph would bounce from 100% all the way to 30% then back again. I also noticed that the boost pressure would go from about 18 to 14 and back again directly in relation with the filter condition.

The filters were new and I cleaned the sea strainer (that's below the waterline).

Yesterday, I heard a high pitched squeal when I first turned it on but none of the pumps sounded like a they were running and the screen said boosting 14% and stayed there until I hit cancel.

All of the filters were full of water.

I removed the sea strainer again and stuck a container under it so I could make sure the thru hull was clear. When I opened the sea cock a stream about half what you see from a kitchen faucet came out. I expected more but I'm guessing the check valve may have some restrictions.

Tellie walked me through some troubleshooting (that guy is THE best!) and we found the boost pump was no longer spinning. It would spin for a couple seconds and stop and it felt like there was a spot that was dragging in the motor.

Also, about the same time I noticed the unit prematurely going into low output mode, I noticed the pressure had changed from what it normally ran, 88psi to 103psi. It's been running like that for a month now.

I can run it in manual and it's producing great without the booster and this morning I'm going to get into the controller settings to see if I can lower the booster pump threshold so it will run on auto.

While I wait for the new pump to be flown out to us, again, thank you Tellie, I'm trying to figure out what issue(s) could have caused this.

Throughout all of this, product output has been right at 14gph with great salinity.

1) is the amount of sea water I described coming in through the strainer adequate?

2) what could cause the booster pump to fail so soon and can it be rebuilt?

3) is this related at all to the higher pressure I've noticed the unit running at?

4) is there a setting in the dealer area of the controller I can adjust so the unit stops looking for booster pressure?

Thank you for helping me understand this better!

[crayiii]

I was able to get it to run from the panel by changing the boost pump set point to 11 and then changing it to low mode as soon as it started.