Don't Throw Out a Cheap Intex or Bestway Flowclear Pool Filter Pump! Easy Fix! (2023)

Introduction

Our Flowclear pool pump on our Bestway (Intex) above ground pool was making a loud grinding noise. I will show you how to disassemble and fix it, as well as how to clean dirty filters to use in the future and save money.

-Here is the Bestway Steel Pro Max 14' pool kit: amzn.to/3CyMegu
-Here is the Intex 14 foot pool kit: amzn.to/3NeHba2
-Bestway Flowclear Filter Replacement: amzn.to/3XxBeK8
-To replace the GFCI plug on your Intex or Bestway Flowclear filter pump (if it does not turn on), Click here: amzn.to/3CCnIew
-New Type III A/C filters for your flowclear pump: amzn.to/44l1J7Q

(These links will take you to an affiliate listing that will pay me a very small commission if you purchase. This helps me to continue making videos. Thanks!)

Check out my 3 year update review of this Steel Max Pro pool and Flowclear pump: youtu.be/ofWl1TrcpOM

Transcript of video:
We have a really quality above ground pool -- just kidding, it's pretty cheap. Bought it for 500 bucks. Gets a lot of use, our family loves it has a really, kind of, cheap pump with filters and these things are really kind of cheaply made it has a very cheap mechanism inside of it very plastic.

But before you get the urge to just throw it out, you can take it apart and fix it. This is sounding pretty good right now, it's running really well. It's got two intakes in it (sorry for the stuff floating on the top), but it's got two intakes and here is the outtake or whatever that's called.

See, if you can hear that it's supposed to just sound like this. It's not gonna ever be perfectly silent, but this is pretty good.
Before that, it was making a grinding noise and yours might be too, or it might not even be turning around at all, and I'll show you how to take it apart and clean it out and also to conserve money on buying filters. So, before you do anything you want to turn this off, so you're going to come over to here and you can just turn it off by hitting this test button and it'll shut it off. Then you're going to walk back over to your pool and you're going to pull these guys out (see if i can do it with one hand). Okay, put those off to the side and then you're gonna take you should get three of these with your pool and you're gonna put these in. If you don't have these,

try to find some other way to stop it up but that's what it'll look like so you're gonna do that with all three of these inlets and outlet, and then that will make it so you can disconnect this guy and so I have those plugs in all these outlets and inlets so the next thing you're going to do is you're going to take this off i'm just going to pull this off just twist it around

just like that water will come out that's okay you're gonna take this one off just rotate it around until it pops off and then the chambers will just empty and then you're gonna take this and just like when you're changing your filter you're gonna take this off um i usually loosen this a little bit then you're gonna take this off but i'm not gonna show this because i can't do it with one hand but i'll show it one i'm going to take this into my shop and show you what it looks like all right so i got this kind of drained out

There is the motor on the bottom here which is electric so you wanna be unplugged whenever you're working on this stuff. You're gonna unscrew these screws here and then you're also gonna take this this little collar see if i can do it with one hand it's on there pretty good let me let me see if i can okay so i got it started with once i could put the phone down and you're gonna have this collar that comes off all right so that's going to make that part free and as soon as you unscrew the screws on the bottom.

This part is just kind of the shroud that holds the the filter and everything so you don't have to worry about that while you're working on this but so just so you know this is the motor right here there's a shaft right here and it's uh in order to be waterproof it has a magnetic shaft that that is activated once electric goes through the plastic so i'll show you what you need to do next so you can understand this part okay once again i got this this collar right here i got this um loosened so i could do this with one hand but it might take two hands or it might even take a channel locks or some other tool but try not to use tools if you can if it's better to just hand tighten some of this stuff you're gonna take that collar off and then this part when i first got it i took a i took um an old chisel and i just pried and pried a little bit just to loosen and get the seal broken the suction seal and then you're just going to pull this up and there is the shaft of the of the the pump mechanism and then when you look inside of here

when you look inside here is the impeller this is the part that pulls water in and moves it so it's just a little plastic piece it's kind of cheap and crappy

Content

We have a really quality above ground pool --.

Just kidding, it's, pretty cheap.

Bought it for 500 bucks.

Gets.

A lot of use.

Our family loves, it has a really, kind of, cheap pump with filters.

And these things are really kind of cheaply made.

It has a very cheap mechanism inside of it very plastic.

But before you get the urge to just throw it out.

You can take it apart and fix it.

This is sounding pretty good right? Now.

It's running really well.

It's got two intakes in it (sorry for the stuff floating on the top), but it's got two intakes.

And here is the outtake or whatever that's called.

See.

If you can hear that it's supposed to just sound like this., It's, not gonna ever be perfectly silent.

But this is pretty good.

Before that.

It was making a grinding noise and yours might be too, or it might not even be turning around at all, and I'll show you how to take it apart and clean it out and also to conserve money on buying filters.

So, before you do anything you want to turn this off, so you're going to come over to here.

And you can just turn it off by hitting this test button and it'll, shut.

It off.

Then, you're going to walk back over to your pool and you're going to pull these guys out (see.

If I can do it with one hand).

Okay, put those off to the side and then you're gonna take you should get 3 of these with your pool and you're gonna put these in.

If.

You don't have these, try to find some other way to stop it up, but that's, what it'll look like so you're gonna do that with all three of these inlets and outlet, and then that will make it.

So you can disconnect this guy and so I have those plugs in all these outlets and inlets.

So the next thing you're going to do is you're going to take this off I'm just going to pull this off.

Just twist it around, just like that.

Water will come out that's.

Okay, you're gonna take this one off just rotate it around until it pops off.

And then the chambers will just empty, and then you're gonna take this.

And just like when you're changing your filter.

You're gonna take this off I, usually loosen this a little bit then you're gonna take this off, but I'm, not gonna show this because I can't do it with one hand, but I'll show it one I'm going to take this into my shop and show you what it looks like all right? So I got this kind of drained out got this loosened.

Just so I could show it I, loosened it with both hands before the video started and you're gonna you're gonna unscrew this.

And take this top off.

This is part of the problem that looks pretty bad.

This is this will cause a lot of issues.

So you're gonna want to change this out.

We went off on vacation and I.

Think someone forgot to change up the filter, maybe me, but it's completely filled so it's probably just trying to suck too much through, but it was making kind of a grinding noise, too so I'm going to show you how to take this apart and fix some of the grinding kind of issues.

So when you have a really gross filter like this and but it's fairly new, instead of just throwing it away, sometimes I'll fill up a bucket with either oxiclean for this or some regular bleach and I'll, put it in there and I'll soak the filter if it's a fairly new one, if it's really old, then just buy some replacement ones.

So I'll just take that oxiclean and I'll fill up a bucket, and then I'll just dunk these.

And let them soak for a couple hours.

This one I found I had another one that was looking pretty dingy and I'm letting this one soak.

This one's gotten it wasn't quite as gray as this.

But this one has gotten a lot lighter (looks like some stuff in it though I don't know whether we're going to save this one or not).

You got to make some decisions, whether you want to be cheap and save money on filters, or just buy new ones., Sometimes it's worth your time just to buy some new ones.

(In my case, I have a couple things I want to replace.

So I figure well might as well), Just, see how it goes, plus I can show you how to save money.

So.

Once you get that filter out of there there's not much to these pumps.

There is the motor on the bottom here, which is electric.

So you wanna be unplugged whenever you're working on this stuff.

You're gonna unscrew these screws here.

And then you're also gonna take this this little collar see if I can do it with one hand, it's on there, pretty good.

Let me let me see if I can okay.

So I got it started with once I could put the phone down and you're gonna have this collar that comes off all right so that's going to make that part free.

And as soon as you unscrew, the screws on the bottom.

It's, just a medium, phillips, screwdriver, you're gonna unscrew these (I got these started with video magic.

Just to make it go a little easier with one hand), but it might take a little bit more work than just what I just did.

So you're going to pull this up straight up.

And then it should come out like that.

Then you want to get this little collar, this little washer off of there.

And now you're looking at the pump motor.

This part is just kind of the shroud that holds the the filter and everything.

So you don't have to worry about that while you're working on this.

But so just.

So you know, this is the motor right here, there's a shaft right here and it's in order to be waterproof.

It has a magnetic shaft that that is activated once electric goes through the plastic so I'll show you what you need to do next.

So you can understand this part.

Okay? Once again, I got this this collar right here.

I got this loosened.

So I could do this with one hand, but it might take two hands, or it might even take a channel locks or some other tool, but try not to use tools if you can if it's better to just hand tighten, some of this stuff, you're gonna take that collar off.

And then this part, when I first got it, I took a, I took an old chisel, and I just pried and pried a little bit just to loosen and get the seal broken, the suction seal and then you're just going to pull this up.

And there is the shaft of the of the the pump mechanism.

And then when you look inside of here, when you look inside here is the impeller.

This is the part that pulls water in and moves it.

So it's, just a little plastic piece, it's kind of cheap and crappy and this.

This is a a magnetic shaft motor shaft.

Because this inside of here is I don't, I don't know if you can see it let's, see if I can get in the light here, a little bit more it's, just a plastic encased, there's, nothing there's, just a bottom part that has a like where the where the bearing would be on the bottom of it it's, just like a little hole down there.

You don't have to there's nothing like you have to worry about getting wet in there.

This is supposed to be submerged so it's safe to have this shaft out of here.

And you know, what I would do is just run your hands around it and feel for parts that might be kind of rough or down there.

I mean, your this part will come out like this.

Okay? And it has some washers some rubber washers on it there.

There might be a washer down there, depending on different versions of this pump.

There might be some washers down there, but you might want to buy some more of these rubber washers.

It won't hurt just take this shaft into a hardware store.

And buy several of these, but basically what you're going to do is you're going to put this shaft in here.

I keep calling this the shaft too.

This is a rotor what what is making this go around are there on the other side of this plastic is probably copper windings.

And when it's electrified, it will make the the magnetic aspect of this rotor spin in the direction that it the polarity of the the windings so you're going to put that in there and it'll just pop right down on there because it'll actually pull right out of your hands because of the magnetism of it and then you're going to take this impeller and you're gonna put this down like that.

Okay, see like that you're gonna put that down, okay, and then you're gonna put this little rubber washer here.

Okay? And then this piece this piece will then fit down on the other side of that shaft.

And you can push it down, and then you can screw this back on.

But what I would say is you want to check you want to you want to run run this through several times.

You want to make sure that this is spinning you want to get that all assembled and then hit hit the power on that pump.

Even while it's dry, you can run this dry.

You don't want to run it for lengthy periods of time, but you can run it dry just to check it.

And you want to make sure that that the rotor is spinning in there.

And if it's making lots of noise, it might be because you need more a few more of the rubber washers on either side of it.

It just helps it to keep the plastic from kind of hitting up against the side and up on the top.

It just keeps it from moving around like that.

And and it helps it flow better helps it go around better and then you're gonna take that and you're gonna just do the reverse process on this and you're gonna put that through there and you're gonna put these up against for the screw the screw posts, you're gonna screw those in, and then you're gonna take this collar on this side and you're gonna screw that back on once again, I'm doing this with one hand.

So I apologize, but you know, if if things aren't working, then you need to keep just keep keep, you know, filing things down if there's bits of plastic that are kind of just sticking out and grinding on other parts of plastic.

And that should fix most of this.

So you don't have to keep buying new ones.

So eventually, sometimes these will burn out, especially if it's caught up on something.

And it can't spin, it'll just keep it doesn't have any kind of safety guard on that.

So it'll have it'll just get hot and burn out and that's when you need to buy a new one, because I wouldn't advise trying to change out the the motor on these.