SpeedSeal Life users.. Survey requested

[Rich Stidger]

For those of you who are using a Speedseal Life raw water pump cover plate, I would like to exchange some information with you. This is the version of the Speedseal cover plate that has a bearing built into the cover to reduce the impeller friction and heat, and claims to dramatically improve the impeller life.
I installed one of these cover plates on my Westerbeke pump #48080 on my genset last Spring and proceeded to run it for 100 hours. At the end of the season I pulled the impeller and found it to look as good as new. No cracks, no missing vanes, essentially perfect.
The cover plate was another story. The cover plate itself as well as the metal washer bearing had side-ways wear that did not look normal to me. After emailing the vendor in the UK and exchanging numerous phone calls, I expended many hours of measurement and analysis into the cause of this problem. They did exchange my worn parts for new and I returned the worn parts to them for their analysis.
This morning I heard back from them with their final verdict. They are claiming that the wear on the cover and on the rotating parts is due to the impeller being compressed by the cam in the pump body and that the rubber impeller is wearing the pump cavity to be egg-shaped from the original round shape. This is then causing the impeller to push sideways on the bearing washer and causing the wear into the cover plate.
This diagnosis was told to me early on and I chucked the pump body into a lathe and measure the cavity run-out with a dial indicator. The maximum run-out (or out-of-roundness) was 0.002". The amount of the side wear was 0.019" - almost 10x as much.
I have numerous emails with more pictures that I can share with anyone who is interested.
Here are my questions-
Does anyone use this Speedseal Life cover, and if so, on what pump?
How many hours does your pump have logged?
How many hours does the Speedseal cover have logged?
Do you see any of the wear that I have described as shown in the attached pictures?

The annotations that I put on the thumbnails below help define the wear.

 

[Justin_NSA]

A PO had installed the original SpeedSeal, and after seeing photos, Alex at SpeedSeal advised me it was pretty worn and I should convert to the new design. I don't have hardly any hours but I will keep an eye on it. It may save some wear on the impellor, but there is still an age factor to consider. The vanes take a beating by design too as they press against the housing to propel water. .

Here's my original SS

 

[Rich Stidger]

Justin-
Is the broken impeller in the picture the one that was used with the Speedseal? And this Speedseal cover does not look like the one with a bearing integrated. Do you know how many hours were on this impeller and cover?

How was the cover worn? Do you have any close-up pictures of the cover?

 

[Justin_NSA]

Rich, the cover shown is the original style and the old impeller was with it. I can't say how old the SpeedSeal is, it was on there when we bought the boat a year ago. I'm pretty sure the PO changed it regularly. I don't have any closeups.

 

[Rick D]

No help here. Mine is just a flat plate. Probably a pump difference.

 

[uncledom]

Rich I threw one on my Yanmar 4JH4E at the beginning of the 2016 season. I will look at it the next time I get to the boat and thanks for the heads up.

 

[Rich Stidger]

uncledom- I will PM you with lots more info. You did put on the "Life" version with the rotating bearing?

 

[Ted]

Rich, I have a SpeedSeal Life fitted to the raw water pump on my Volvo Penta MD 2030. After two seasons, I only have +/- 100 hours on the SpeedSeal. I'll pull the cover next time I'm at the boat and report back. The SpeedSeal Life instructions recommend that all sides of the bearing discs and the inside of the cover cavity into which they fit, be coated with grease. Also, they recommend that the bearing discs be replaced every two years. Was this done when the impeller was last changed?

 

[Justin_NSA]

Alex provided me with a few disks with my Life kit.

 

[kloudie1]

Rich, is the bearing center post centered well over the shaft center? just curious. Seems like that might cause some strange sliding (between impeller vane sides and the disk) that could load the rotating bearing disk.?? I dunno

 

[Rich Stidger]

Rich, is the bearing center post centered well over the shaft center? just curious. Seems like that might cause some strange sliding (between impeller vane sides and the disk) that could load the rotating bearing disk.?? I dunno

BINGO!! You are exactly correct!
My measurements and analysis showed exactly that condition. The installation instructions said to drop the cover onto two of the thumbscrews in the pump, and then insert the other two thumbscrews and tighten all of them. It turns out that the holes in the cover plate are 0.019" larger than the diameter of the thumbscrews. The slots in the cover don't locate anything, they just make it easy to put the cover on and hold it "roughly" in place while you install the other two thumbscrews. According to Alex at Speedseal, the two thumbscrews in the cover holes are the locating device. But there is 0.019 of slop in the holes with the thumbscrews that will allow the plate to be mis-aligned with the center of the shaft. This gives you exactly the sliding forces that you describe. And the depth of the wear on the cover plate and the central pin is 0.019".
Yet Alex at Speedseal claims that the wear on the cover plate and the washers is due to the rubber impeller wearing the pump cavity egg-shaped and producing the side-ways forces.
I am trying to find out if anyone else has this same condition with the Speedseal Life cover. Speedseal claims that the washers need to be replaced every two years and that when they wear they get thinner. But the wear I see is on the sides of the washer and on the cover plate itself.

 

[Ron20324]

[QUOTE="Rich Stidger, ...- I will PM you with lots more info. You did put on the "Life"...[/QUOTE]

Keep this on the forum, please. I'm at least one who would like to keep abreast of this.

 

[Rich Stidger]

[QUOTE="Rich Stidger, ...- I will PM you with lots more info. You did put on the "Life"...

Keep this on the forum, please. I'm at least one who would like to keep abreast of this.[/QUOTE]
I can do this. I have several emails and lots of pictures that are in them that explain the problem and analysis. I can certainly post but I wasn't sure how much interest there would be in such a limited topic.

 

[Rick D]

The SpeedSeal Life instructions recommend that all sides of the bearing discs and the inside of the cover cavity into which they fit, be coated with grease. Also, they recommend that the bearing discs be replaced every two years. Was this done when the impeller was last changed?

Wow, that's a lot of maintenance for a simple quick-change pump cover. Mine on the Yanmar is simply a cover plate with two slotted and two fixed thumb screws. Not sure it was worth it actually since I still need to snug them with a pliers since I can't get any torque at the location with my hands. In your case, I have to wonder what you gain with the Speedseal if you have to invest that kind of PM.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Wow, that's a lot of maintenance for a simple quick-change pump cover. Mine on the Yanmar is simply a cover plate with two slotted and two fixed thumb screws. Not sure it was worth it actually since I still need to snug them with a pliers since I can't get any torque at the location with my hands. In your case, I have to wonder what you gain with the Speedseal if you have to invest that kind of PM.

Actually, Rick, the maintenance is not oppressive. The "grease" that is provided is simply glycerin that is provided with all impellers- nothing special. And the reason quoted in the instructions for coating is to keep everything together while inserting. The real advantage of this plate with the rotating bearings is that it greatly extends the life of the impeller. Looking at my maintenance log, in 18 years of use, I have changed the impeller 16 times. In 12 of the 16 times the impeller had broken vanes and pieces missing. This would happen in a year where I only had 130 hours on the generator. In contrast, for my auxiliary Volvo, I have changed the impeller 12 times and not once has the impeller suffered any damage in use.
As I stated in my OP, the generator impeller that was in the pump with the Speedseal Life looked like brand new after 100 hours. So the system does appear to work as claimed. My big issue is the wear on the cover plate itself. I am not satisfied with the final analysis and disposition by the Speedseal people because all of my engineering analysis points to the cause of the plate not being centered on the pump- a cause that they refute.

 

[Ron20324]

IIRC, Maine Sail once posted an item about speed-covers of his own. Cover off, place it then run 4 bolts into the block, just enough to bottom them out lightly. You would have a wing nut (the ones you took off the battery terminals ) on each bolt to tighten down. Voila!

 

[Ted]

IIRC, Maine Sail once posted an item about speed-covers of his own. Cover off, place it then run 4 bolts into the block, just enough to bottom them out lightly. You would have a wing nut (the ones you took off the battery terminals ) on each bolt to tighten down. Voila!

The original SpeedSeal's benefit over the stock waterpump cover was to make changing the impeller quicker and easier. The most time consuming part of replacing the impeller isn't removing the screws. Removing the old gasket from the pump and cover takes a lot more time. All of the SpeedSeal covers have an "O" ring set into a groove in the cover so you don't have to mess around with removing a gasket and replacing it if damaged. SpeedSeal Life has another major benefit. The SpeedSeal Life also has the quick change feature but more importantly it protects the impeller in the event there is no water getting to the pump. In those instances the sides of the impeller get damaged more often than the blades. The bearing disks protect the impeller sides. The discs are like large washers and are really simple to install while replacing the impeller.

 

[Gunni]

Rich:
5 yrs in use with the SpeedSeal Life and no problems with cover plate wear. In fact I have NEVER changed the Teflon bearing plate and it shows little wear. My impellers come out every year with the OEM serial numbers showing on the vane edges! Zero wear.

For you folks with a raw water pump that is tucked into the side of motor, under the starter, the SpeedSeal fixes that problem. The SpeedSeal Life brings reduced friction wear, and extended impeller life.

 

[Rich Stidger]

Gunni-
What pump do you have? How many hours on the cover? Specifically, how do you install the cover? Do you center the cover on the pump, or just slide on the cover and tighten the thumbscrews?

 

[Mark Maulden]

What Gunni says! About 300 hrs on the speed seal life and no issues. Although I have not opened it up yet after this last season. Pump is johnson F4b on volvo MD17C. I replace the impellors every spring and I have a nice collection of spares. For me, access isn't the best as I need a hex wrench to tighten one of the screws. The main reason I did this was to get rid of the stupid paper gasket. And the brass screws also corroded in the bronze body...