pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky h2o

[civicturbo]

I did alot of Googling on my problem by turned up very little. I had a small leak at my SWG thats now fixed. As I was feeling around to find just were the leak was I got a good tingle zap! having been electocuted a few times in my life I recognize that 60hz bite imediatly, It was not full force buy was pretty good. Shortly after this I was rewiring my timer box from my small 120v 1HP pump to the 220v 2.2HP pentair WF-6 whisper flow and as soon as i had just one of the phases connected the pump started humming loudly as if it wanted to start. I turned off the timer, connected the other phase and turned the timer on to vacuum the pool. I tought about this and figured their must be a leak to ground in the motor and thats how it had a closed loop and tryed to start. That also can explain my being zapped, although it could potential be the SWG. The SWG is new and the pump is about 5-8 yrs old. So I would be suprised if the zap was from the SWG.
Currently I have the Pentair completly removed and tested in on the dinning room table :-D My woman didn't even say anything about it tonight. So with the whip removed and the external cap disconnected i get about 2 ohms resistance between any of the 4 terminal and ground

That cannot be good! sop I googled and found little, I tryed to take the back housing off and all I got was 4 very long bolts, one now snapped its threads and no longer goes back in. The back cover would not come off. So back together it went and I set it outside.

My question is can anyone who has motor experiance tell me about the humming on one phase and the continuity to ground? The pump is a Pentair WhisperFlow WF-6 1.5HP 1.47Service factor 110/220 wied for 220v there are no GFI's on the equipment as it was installed long before we bought the house, Also there are no external bonding wires anywhere at the slab, I thought that was code forever. House was built in 1977, we belive the pool to be about as old.

Thanks for reading my thread

 

[Isaac-1]

Re: pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky

Just because it was in the code does not mean it was built to code, also some states have just recently adopted the NEC as legal requirement instead of guidelines. I also recently found what would be a major violation of code for grounding on a relatives house of similar age, the way it was done was no where near code compliant, but in fairness was probably very safe.

Ike

 

[JamesW]

Re: pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky

Most likely, the motor windings are shorted to ground. When you connect one leg of the 240-volt supply, you create a voltage differential of 120 volts and the motor tries to run.

Check the resistance of the windings.

You probably need to replace the motor. You can have the motor bench tested at a local electric motor shop if you think it's worth repairing.

http://www.aosmithmotors.com/WorkArea/l ... &libID=609

http://www.aosmithmotors.com/AboutUs/de ... spx?id=841

 

[Bama Rambler]

Re: pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky

The humming you experienced is what's called single-phasing. And as James said, It sounds like you have a shorted motor winding.

 

[civicturbo]

Re: pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky

i tested and got continuity to ground on both phases, looks like its time to get the motor rebuilt

 

[Ohm_Boy]

Re: pump reading continuity to ground, I got zapped by leaky

You should definitely not have continuity from the wiring terminals to the motor case, which would be ground. This unequivocally means that the motor is bad. But bear in mind that to test properly, you must have all wiring disconnected at the motor, and be testing with your meter directly on the motor terminals. This insures that the motor is completely out of the circuit, and that there is no possibility of the meter reading being influenced by anything outside the motor.

If your motor is jumpered for 120v, then one side of the windings will be likely connected to a neutral terminal, and that may be [erroneously] grounded at the motor.

Also, the DC resistance of the motor windings may possibly be only 2 ohms. Motor winding resistance readings are often very low, and I've seen readings like 0.9, 2, 5, and 14 ohms, and everything in between. You'll need the manufacturer's specs to know what is correct.