Time for a new pump

[newmaac]

I have an 8 year old pool. When built, they installed a 2HP single speed motor.
A few people have told me that this was "total over-kill".
I have been waiting for it to die, so that I could justify spending the money on a variable speed pump.

This morning when it kicked-on at it's set time, I heard a weird sound, followed by a small alarm beep, then nothing.
When I went out to check, I found that the breaker for the motor is popped. I re-set the breaker and tried turning it on. The motor seems to be frozen, which is causing the alarm beep and tripping the breaker.
For some reason I had expected that when it died, it would be the pump, (leaking water and such), not the actual motor.
Is this common, for the electric motor to freeze-up?

I am open to suggestions for a new pump.
As always, I appreciate your input.

Mike

 

[mas985]

Is this common, for the electric motor to freeze-up?

When the bearing go, usually due to a water leak, they can freeze up. The wet end of the pump will last much longer than the motor. The motor is usually first to go.

You can go the VS route OR you can replace the current motor with a two speed motor and get most of the benefit of a VS pump. Depends on your budget. If you go the VS route, make sure you upgrade the power panel with surge protection as well. Quite a number of VS pump drives have been taken out but power surges.

But to recommend a specific pump, I have a few questions:

Does this pump run both the pool and the spa?

Do you use a timer or controller to turn on and off the pump and if so, what brand/model?

 

[newmaac]

This pumps the pool AND the spa. Very small set-up. Pool and spa combined are only about 12,000 gallons.
There IS solar on the roof that will affect the pump. Single story roof, with about 80 feet of 2" pipe between the filter and the solar.

The whole system is controlled, using a Jandy PDA.

When I change to a two speed, or variable speed pump, will that integrate well with the Jandy controller?
A co-worker recently installed a variable speed pump AND solar at the same time. I think that they added a new control panel to run the pump, but I'm not sure.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[mas985]

When I change to a two speed, or variable speed pump, will that integrate well with the Jandy controller?

Two speed is probably not an issue. However, you might be better off with a Jandy VS if you go that route. By PDA, I assume you mean the AquaLink PDA? But check with the VS manual to ensure compatibility.

 

[newmaac]

Thanks, Mark. I will get more info from Jandy, regarding their VS pump and my PDA. Any yes, it IS the Aqualink PDA that I was referring to.

I will report back when I am done.

Mike