Aqualink or motor?

[wweissborn]

We have a pump motor on our waterfall, separate from the pool pump. Centurian 1.5hp. Yesterday morning we were running the waterfall and after an hour or so, the waterfall stopped for a minute or two, then started up again, then stopped. The wife thought I had been messing with her by turning it off and on from my PC. I had not. I then logged into the iaqualink website, accessed the controls and saw the pump was "offline". I told the system to turn the waterfall off and it showed the pump as offline.

The equipment gets full morning sun and it was a hot day in the Houston, TX area so I thought maybe it just got overheated. I made sure power was off, from the main control-panel and then let it alone. This morning, I tried to turn it on again but no joy. Checked all breakers. They were ok. Even reset them just to be sure. Tried again. Still no love and no noise/hum from the motor.

My question is is there anyway to tell if maybe the @5$!5$##@ iaqualink is the culprit or if it really is the motor? I hate to go through the hassle of tearing apart the pump only to find out it was the iaqualink box.

Bill W

 

[OldPoolMan]

When the pump it supposed to be on, check the voltage at your circuit board where the motor/pump is wired or go check the voltage att the terminals on the motor itself. That should tell you whether the system or the motor is the culprit.

 

[wweissborn]

Finally got a break from heat and work to check this out. Voltages are fine. Motor hums when power applied. So I pulled the cap off the back and had my son spin the shaft with his fingers when power was applied. Motor started working but making a lot of noise. Almost like a bearing but closer to the noise you hear when it is priming (I had opened and cleaned the basket). While priming you could feel the motor getting hotter and then it shutdown (didn't know it had thermal shutoff). That pretty much confirmed my thought that the bearing(s) had gone out.

Pulled the pump apart, got the impeller off then spun the shaft of the motor expecting it to be difficult and "sandy feeling". Nope, not at all. Spun just fine with no effort whatsoever. Put the housing back on (the part with the ceramic seal) and tried to spin the shaft. Bingo! Very difficult and very close to the noise we heard when we "jump-started". Local pool store (don't want to name names but it starts with "L") so found the mechanical seal on good ole Amazon. Should be arrive Wed/Thu, just in time for a family get-together.