Replacing Noisy Century 1.5 HP Pump Unit with New Variable Speed Pentair Intelliflo

Pool Equipment
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I have a ~25,000 gallon, chlorine generating, salt water pool, built and opened in 2013, and recently, my pool pump/motor has been getting progressively louder, to the point where it is a legitimate problem that needs to be dealt with.  The Pool Pump/Motor has a Century 1.5 HP Single Speed Motor label on it (PN 7-F56AA12A04-24), but the Wiring housing cover on the motor end of the unit is labeled Hayward - Go figure…  Anyway, in my search for a direct motor replacement motor on Inyopools.com, it looks like it is replaced with the Magnatek AO Smith B2854 or B854.  Since I need to take some action anyway, I am currently considering 2 possible options to repair.

Option 1) (Less expensive) - Simply replace the motor, and while doing so, replace the recommended associated gaskets, etc, on my 5 year old salt water pool pump unit.

Option 2) (Substantially more expensive) - I have a friend who recently replaced his pump with the Pentair IntelliFlo 3 HP unit, and he swears by it!  Lower energy consumption, the ability to recirculate the water in the pool much faster on demand, in the case of over-swimming or last last minute “turbo cleaning”, given the more powerful motor specs, and due to the flexibility of programming and controlling the settings on the pump itself, resulting in a much more customized solution.

I would like to get some feedback and recommendations, in the case that others have been down this road before.  If I can make it work without going nuts, I would prefer in the the Pentair variable speed replacement route.  But… I am all too familiar with the 1-2 hour “quick replacement job”, spanning into a 3rd and 4th day, waiting on those critical few missing, overlooked or incompatible $10 parts that derail the completion of my project while I wait for their arrival!  I’d like this job to be a clean, efficient “One and Done!”  :slight_smile:

Just an FYI - The current pump unit is wired and operating at 230v…

Thanks,

Barry

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***Update - Sometime yesterday morning, the increasingly noisy motor stopped running altogether, and tripped the breaker. When I reset the breaker, and switched the motor back on, it just made a very loud buzzing sound, and did not spin the motor shaft, so I turned the breaker back off. I disconnected the entire pump/motor unit from the system, and disassembled the motor from the pump assy. in order to inspect the impeller, diffuser, gaskets, o-rings and spring and ceramic seals. There was noticeable wear - friction burns, and thin collections of shaved diffuser material on the diffuser where the impeller makes contact, as if the impeller spun and burned a circular wear pattern into the diffuser. There also appeared to be some disforming of the spring seal assy, as it was not entirely symmetrical.  There was also a solitary loose ball bearing, approximately 1/8 to 3/16 inch in diameter, and it was somewhat flattenned on one side, and otherwise, not smooth.  I do not know exactly where that bearing came from, but I did hear it rolling or bouncing around when I was carrying the unit to my workshop.

Now that the pump has stopped working entirely, I think the new plan is to try to get the existing motor/pump assy rebuilt, and take it from there.

Barry