Pump motor oil / lubricant: what kind to use ?

proculation · May 28, 2023

Hello fellow swimmers,

I'm opening the pool this weekend (

) and my pool pump (Hayward SuperPump 1.5 HP / 120V / 18.6 A max) began to trip the cabin breaker (well, the GFCI outlet dedicated to the pump) when the morning arrived and the temperature began to rise (now almost 30 c).

I let it cool a little (the pump motor case was quite hot) and put a wet towel over it to help the cooling. But after a while the breaker began to trip again.

The pressure is OK, ~15 PSI. There is some air bubbles coming up the input of the pump, something I also want to fix but there was always some air coming through since we bought the house.

So, long story short, I found some videos like that one

and decided to open the pump to have a look. There were some debris in the impeller but nothing serious like in that video. The motor shaft can be turned easily but not freely (it stops turning if no torque is applied).

SO, long story short ! I use the pressure washer to clean everything, remove debris etc but then I looked at the motor through the vents and then I thought about my always seizing fans that I then lubricate and they works like new. I tried to find informations about what kind of oil / lubricant to use to ease the rotation of the motor and prevent friction/heating ?

Yours truly,

P.

1poolman1 · May 28, 2023

proculation said:
Hello fellow swimmers,

I'm opening the pool this weekend () and my pool pump (Hayward SuperPump 1.5 HP / 120V / 18.6 A max) began to trip the cabin breaker (well, the GFCI outlet dedicated to the pump) when the morning arrived and the temperature began to rise (now almost 30 c).

I let it cool a little (the pump motor case was quite hot) and put a wet towel over it to help the cooling. But after a while the breaker began to trip again.

The pressure is OK, ~15 PSI. There is some air bubbles coming up the input of the pump, something I also want to fix but there was always some air coming through since we bought the house.

So, long story short, I found some videos like that one

and decided to open the pump to have a look. There were some debris in the impeller but nothing serious like in that video. The motor shaft can be turned easily but not freely (it stops turning if no torque is applied).

SO, long story short ! I use the pressure washer to clean everything, remove debris etc but then I looked at the motor through the vents and then I thought about my always seizing fans that I then lubricate and they works like new. I tried to find informations about what kind of oil / lubricant to use to ease the rotation of the motor and prevent friction/heating ?

Yours truly,

P.

Pool motors are never lubricated, the bearings are sealed. If the motor is hard to turn, it may be due to rusted/seized bearings that would need to be replaced. Motors shafts seldom continue to turn much after you manually spin them. In normal use, standard pool motors run too hot to touch for long (+/- 140 degrees). you need to check the amp draw on the motor. What size breaker? Are you running it on 120V?

oldprophet · May 28, 2023

1poolman1 said:
Pool motors are never lubricated, the bearings are sealed. If the motor is hard to turn, it may be due to rusted/seized bearings that would need to be replaced. Motors shafts seldom continue to turn much after you manually spin them. In normal use, standard pool motors run too hot to touch for long (+/- 140 degrees). you need to check the amp draw on the motor. What size breaker? Are you running it on 120V?

If it is an older motor the fan could have been broken off of the rotor inside of the motor. It's rare but it's happened

proculation · May 28, 2023

1poolman1 said:
Pool motors are never lubricated, the bearings are sealed. If the motor is hard to turn, it may be due to rusted/seized bearings that would need to be replaced. Motors shafts seldom continue to turn much after you manually spin them. In normal use, standard pool motors run too hot to touch for long (+/- 140 degrees). you need to check the amp draw on the motor. What size breaker? Are you running it on 120V?

What do you mean ? I can clearly see the shaft from the vents from the impeller, through the rotor/stator and then to the "end/back".

I just made a quick video to show the free spinning with my hand:

1poolman1 · May 28, 2023

proculation said:
What do you mean ? I can clearly see the shaft from the vents from the impeller, through the rotor/stator and then to the "end/back".

I just made a quick video to show the free spinning with my hand:

Motors shafts seldom continue to turn much after you manually spin them. They don't coast to a stop like a fan would.

proculation · May 29, 2023

1poolman1 said:
Motors shafts seldom continue to turn much after you manually spin them. They don't coast to a stop like a fan would.

So, in light of this video, you would say there is a problem. Bearings or the motor itself ?

1poolman1 · May 30, 2023

With the motor disconnected from the rest of the pump, as in the video, power it on. Noisy? Bearings. When turning it by hand do you feel any roughness? Bearings. Hard to say more from the other side of the continent and another country.

What size breaker are you using?

proculation · May 30, 2023

No, not noisy. Actually, after further tests, I think the problem is not the pump but the wiring to the GFCI box. The current pulled from the pump I measured, some peaks when starting but stays much below 15A, should not be a problem. I ordered some bearings (model 6203-RS) and a bearing puller from Amazon just in case.