nickanat

The voltage at the pump motor was 238 when I tested it yesterday after installing, and while the cleaning system is not working perfectly, it is because the cleaning heads and the small plastic "teeth" that control the rotation of the head are worn down. They do pop up completely and drop down completely (for the most part). The one that was recently replaced (polaris gave us an extra head to use when you send in the defective one) works exactly as is should. The waterfall flow is much better than anything I remember, even when the pool was new. There are 2 drains, and both return on one single pipe, while the skimmer returns on another. The pump does seem to be working fine, no bubbles or other issues other than when it was first started. I did use a garden hose to force some water into the pump before running is as a safeguard. We replaced the motor and impeller, as well as a couple of seals and gaskets. The impeller appears to be exactly the same size as the old one. Both the pressure gauge on the filter and on the infloor cleaning distributor read anywhere from 4-6. I will double check them when I clean the filters in a little while. I did drain the pool about a third of the way down, almost so the water was about 18 inches from the waterline.

Thank you everyone for your help. I decided on a 1.5 HP motor with a service factor of 1.47 from a local Leslies Pool and Spa. They have a complete one year warranty, that even covers water damage. The motor is made by Emerson Motors, and the build quality seems to be somewhat better. I also noticed it was substantially heaver, which I hope equates to much tighter windings. However, I think I found the problem that most likely killed all three of my motors. It turns out that the "distributor" for the infloor cleaning system had its own little strainer basket, which I only found out about by accident while reading about pool pumps online. When I removed the section of pipe and took out the strainer, easily 70% of it was covered in hair amongst other things. It had never been cleaned in almost 5 years of running, so I'm guessing the increasing strain on the motor killed it faster. Speaking of strains, my system pressure is now around 4psi, but I expect that to rise as the filter fills with algae until i clean it tomorrow. I also decided to drain out some of the water because about a year ago when I had the water tested the Parts-per-million was very high and the tester at pinch-a-penny advised that I empty a portion of the pool and refill it. If anyone has any other advice, I would appreciate it. Thank you again for all your input, it really helped me make a decision that I think is going to be a good one for the next several years to come.

Well I just took apart the motor and besides a dried up moth and some shoddy windings there wasn't much I could find wrong with it except that the center part of the shaft that is inside of the motor that the magnets were mounted on was very rusted. The outer ends must be stainless because they looked fine. Both bearings seemed to be in decent condition and all the wiring was intact as far as I could tell. The outer plate of the motor that meets up with the pump did have some minor corrosion and alot of salt residue on it, however, I did not see any signs of salt inside the motor as I expected to see. Could high temperatures/poor thermal protection (there was no sensor on it that I could see) do that sort of damage? About a day before it stopped working I went to check the salt level and there was no dripping water coming from anywhere. There never has been with this motor. I'm about ready to give up on it and see if I cant get a few bucks for the copper windings.

Well I went and took a look at the psi gauges and on the filter there is an adjustable knob with with two needles, one green and one red, 5 psi after it to remind you when to clean the filters. The green needle was last set on around 25 psi. Also, looking at the psi gauge on the device that distributes water for the in-floor cleaner I can remember seeing it bounce around 20-30 psi. Also, before buying a new motor, I intend to take the old one apart and look for anything easily repairable. Is there anything in specific that you would recommend? Also, when going to buy a replacement motor would you suggest 1.5 HP as a good replacement considering the psi may be too high using 2 hp motors? Thank you again.

Yes, we do have a chlorine generator that uses salt. It is always kept within its operating range when it comes to how much salt its supposed to have. I also clean it every few months.

The pool company gave us our pump and motor together. The motor it came with was 2 HP. All of the motors have been well ventilated. Well, I cant get a reading without a motor, but when the last one stopped working when i tested it on at the terminals it was 240volts but was not doing anything, no blown breaker and no noise or movement. The suction and return appears to be 2 or 2 1/4. The filter is a larger canister filter with 4 canisters in it. I cant check the model of infloor cleaner, but caretaker sounds right. Also, the psi readings I posted were guesses from what I remember seeing the last time I checked it, so dont hold me to them. Well, the first two motors would fail in that they would trip the breaker while making loud humming noises. This most recent one only tripped the breaker once, but after messing around with it for a while it would make no noise set at 230, and not trip the breaker. Set at 115 *by the way of a switch on an access plate on the back of the motor), it would hum and within 10 seconds or so it would trip the breaker. I cant remember them having any burnt smell and there is no indication of water leaking. Both pinch a pennys have told me that the seals failed and water got into the motor housing/windings. I plan on spending the money to fix it again within 2 weeks, but I would hate to go through another motor in a year. My filter I believe is a Hayward Swimclear with the 4 canisters inside it. My pool is around 15-16k gals, with 3 returns, 2 spa jets, a 36inch waterfall, and roughly 20 cleaning heads, but I only have one or two of them running at the same time. Should I just buy a whole new pump and motor? With a new motor costing around 250-350, my budget isn't much higher than that. I really appreciate all the help, thank you.

Well I thought it was an electrical problem this 3rd time especially, since the motor would hum with the switch set for 110 voltage instead of 220, but it would draw too much from the breaker and trip it. Using a voltmeter I was able to check and see that we are in fact getting almost exactly 240 volts @ the leads connecting to the motor (which it is rated for). I normally check the water myself but sometimes bring it to a local pinch a penny, and I keep it well maintained. The filters are cleaned out every 3 months and the chlorine cell is checked and cleaned in diluted muriatic acid as well. This has me stumped. The voltage is 240, but since nothing happens set to 220, when testing it at 110, it has to be drawing more than 20 amps because the breaker trips at 20. All motors would run relatively warm, but not too hot to touch, and only the first motor showed paint damage, but then again that one was in direct rain. The system pressure when running is within the specs of a small pressure gauge on my filter and on the distributor for the in floor cleaner, my guess is somewhere around 30psi? I'm probably wrong as I havent looked at it in a while. The motors have never been submerged in water. Only the first and second motors were submitted to rain.

We went through 3 so far, I remember the first being Hayward branded, the second I cant remember, and the third is Marathon Electric. They were all physically similar, and all of the important areas matched up they way they should have. Would running the pump without water for a few seconds until it primed be enough to damage it? On all the motors, I ran them a few times without water in it for one reason or another until it self-primed, although after that it always had water in it upon starting.

After being about to replace our 3rd pool pump motor, I thought I'd ask and see if anyone has any ideas why they keep burning out. The first motor went after about a year and a half (we swim most of the year, and the pump runs on average 4 hours a day, all year round), and we found out we had a small air leak that was causing it to start dry every day, probably causing the seals inside the motor to overheat and break allowing water to flow in and damage it. We fixed the leak and bought a new motor. The second motor was working fine for about the same amount of time before it too stopped working. When we had it bench tested it showed positive for water damage. So we bought another motor and and built a well ventilated covering for it to keep it away from rain. The third motor went after about a year and a half again, because of water damage due to a broken seal. Any ideas what could be causing it this time? The system was staying primed and the motor was out of the rain, but it somehow managed to get water damage and burn out again. The motors have all been 2HP, rated for and running single-phase @ 240volts. Our climate is realtively warm so water temperatures never drop below 50ish degrees F. Please help