Smoking Motor

[jficarra3]

Last season when I closed my pool I noticed the pump was a little loud. This season when I opened the pool it sounded like a jet engine! I ordered a bearing/seal kit/puller kit from Wethead. When I removed the pump from the plumbing I noticed that 3 of the 4 through bolts were broke. I got the pump inside and tore it apart, marking everything so when I put it back together everything lined up in its original spot. Got the new bearings and seals put in it. Went to my local pool store, they had a junk motor and gave me the through bolts off of it, they looked brand new. Put everything back together, but I was only able to use 3 of the 4 through bolts as the 4th one was broke off in the housing and I couldn't remove it. Reconnected the pump to the pool plumbing and flipped the switch... it hummed but nothing happened. After about 1 maybe 2 seconds I turn the pump off and walked away mad. The next day I went out to take the pump back out of service and thought why not try it one more time. When I turned the pump on it took off and ran like a champ instantly. The pumped worked for about a week when one day I went out and cleaned the pump basket out. I put everything back together as I normally do and restarted the motor. The housing was about 1/2 full of water when I turned the pump back on. The pump primed and was full of water within 30 seconds. After running for about 1-2 minutes the pump changed noise and when I looked at it, it began to smoke. While it was smoking it was still pumping water strong. Not sure what to do I again walked away. The next day when I flipped the pump on it started running like normal but instantly started smoking so I turned it off. I can't really tell where the smoke is coming from b/c it happens so fast and it surrounds the pump. I checked all the supply, return, and vac lines and nothing is clogged. All my equipment is in a vented mini barn/shed with a concrete floor about 4' from the deep end. I would like to try and fix this before having to buy a new motor. Any idea as to what is going on?

 

[mgarf33]

Evaluate th situation.
You let the smoke out. More than likely you need a whole new pump/motor.
If it's not the motor burning up, you have some severe bearing friction, which will likely destroy the seats. If you're not an expert in motor repair, this is an opportunity to upgrade to a higher efficiency pump.

 

[Divin Dave]

Are you sure its smoke and not steam? If its smoke the motor is history anyhow. Smoke usually has a unpleasant odor to it.
If you have a small leak then it could be steam. Not often that ive heard of this happening, but its a possibility.

 

[OldPoolMan]

If your motor is truly smoking, you need to replace it. We're talking voltage, power, and heat. We don't want to hear about you being in a fire. Safety and prudence is always top priority.