Emergency help !

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simonoaks

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LifeTime Supporter
May 28, 2015
322
Juno Beach , Florida
Hi,

So after 2 months and 1,000 bucks , I have my pool perfectly balanced since sacking the pool company.

Today, I noticed the water was not flowing , and then saw that the pump did not come on and timer had stopped at the on time.

As there was no power, I checked breaker and the fuse had tripped. I reset it and manually turned on the timer - BANG ! smoke and flash came from the front of the pump housing where the power goes in. Reset and tried again two other times and the same thing happened - bang and smoke.

So, clearly there is some kind of short causing the breaker to go. It is a Flotech 1hp pump. Looks pretty old ( I have been in house 2 years and it was here when I got here, and securing bolts into supporting block look rusty).

Anyone have any experience of this? i.e. is it a know thing and an easy fix, or should I take power unit in pump apart to see if there is anything like loose wire shorting? Why would it suddenly go ?

If I cannot easily fix - can you recommend the process I need to go through and searches to do, to find the right replacement pump. Is it easy to replace yourself or should I call out the company that replaced the PCB recently on my Aquabrite? How long do I have to get it fixed before it effects my pool balance? Luckily I have a screen and get VERY little contamination in my pool. I will raise FC from 5ppm to 12 ppm with bleach so daughter can swim today.

Any advice/ help , much appreciated.

thx
 
The screen will help keep the sun off of it also, but you will need to keep chlorine in there and some sort of water flow/mixing. Plus, once you repair it remember there will be stagnant water in the pipes/filter that may have started tpo grow things so have the FC up high before you turn it on.

I have never replaced on, so not much help - but a direct replacement may be the easiest thing to do. Does it look like this? AT251001-01
 
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Here is a picture of my stuff. I have no idea what all the valves and pipes do, but if it is an easy process to just swap out, I guess I do not need to . thx
 

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The good news is that the pump is connected using unions so you should not need to cut and replace any plumbing if you have to replace the entire pump. It may be possible to replace just the motor part of the pump as well, you can start by looking up the pump motor via the make and model and get some online prices.

In my area the pool store (Leslie's) will trouble shoot the pump for free and will only charge you for replacement parts and labor if you fix it. I once had an issue with a pump that would not start and I took it to them, they took it apart put it back together and it started and has been fine since then and it didn't cost me anything (all the money I spent with them before finding this site was more than enough anyway).

If you are inclined to fix it yourself I would recommend looking for a service manual online using the make, model, and part number.
 
If you can get a replacement pump it appears to be an easy swap out. You have unions on bot sides of the pump so it will come out and should go back in easy. You just need to be sure to turn off every valve if the pump is lower than the pool so you don't start draining it when you open the first pipe.
 
I kept my pool open after hurricane Rita for over a week. I would slowly add bleach and jump in to mix it around. Lost the battle after three weeks without power and no filtering. A pump change should not take anywhere near that long so if you stay on top of it you will be good.

Sent from my VS870 4G using Tapatalk
 
Lets define "easy swap out" here. It means you are familiar with making electrical connections and are familiar with making the pipe connections. You should also feel confident in following the installation manual directions.

If not many pool stores will come out and evaluate your situation and replace your pump for generally the price of a replacement pump. I would call a few. Write down the make and model number from the plate on the top of the pump they will want that information.

This looks like a single speed pump. If so I would seriously consider taking this opportunity to upgrade to a 2 speed pump. You will probably make up any cost difference in less than 2 years if not sooner.

Its an easy swap out -- but you do have to make electrical connections and those can pose problems for some folks.
 
Thanks for all the advice.

I am pretty comfortable with electrical as I did electronics degree, not got any experience with pluming, but think I can shut off some valves. Can someone recommend a brand of two speed pump that will swap out easily? Does that mean fixtures are standard so the in and out pipes on my current pump are universal and a new pump will slot right in and I screw the same pipes back in without any changes ? If cost is not too big of an issue - what makes/models should I look for ?

Also , how is two speed pump controlled? do you program it or is it automatic?

thx
 

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Seems that it would be easiest to just replace the motor (ideally with a 2-speed although that will require you to do some wire changes too, unless you get a motor with a switch on the back).
 
Ok, so I took a look inside - moved the coil around a bit , and now it does not blow the fuse when switched on, but I can see the coil spinning too slow and although the no flow light on SWG goes out, the flow rate is way too low an is not circulating water in the pool. I will see if I can get a motor as a quick fix , while in learn and look into pumps in more detail.

- - - Updated - - -

Bama Rambler said:
Flotec makes a 2-speed in that same footprint. Take a look here to see it.

Amazon even has one online here.
Click to expand...
what is my 'footprint' I mean, is there a name for it , in order to search it and see options?

How does a 2 speed pump work - does it need a separate control panel or is it locally programmed ? thx
 
Footprint is the shape/size of an item. The pump he referenced appears to be the exact same shape/size, ie - footprint.

Some two speeds are switched externally and some have a switch on the motor.

- - - Updated - - -

simonoaks said:
Ok, I can get a new motor for 165 bucks - or this pump for 365 including free shipping - looks like a good deal right? Other places are over 500 bucks, thoughts?
Sta-Rite AT251001 In Ground Pool Pump at EssenntialHardware.com

thx
Click to expand...
Seems like a deal, but I don't know the vendor or reputation.
 
Yes, I thought about that, but usually capacitors are used to discharge a burst to get the motor started. As it does actually turn , I figured it is probably not that. Also motor gets seriously hot- cannot touch the casing after just 20 seconds of running, so probably some sort of short going on. New motor is about 170 plus shipping, so I figured I go for whole new pump for 360 including shipping.
 
The cap is not for discharging a burst (that does not even make sense electrically), it is to create rotating field, as your 1-phase motor in fact is a 3-phase motor pretending to be one, and needs all three phases, so the cap creates those phases for it.
Without the cap therefore the AC asynch motor won't run.

If it gets hot, you likely have a winding short, or a turn short. Usually motor then is replaced or rewound. In this country - replaced.
 

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