Thanks for this thread, even though it didn't actually help me personally except to see that others are having the same problem I did. I figure this is a good place to relate my story in case it can help someone else.
I came home from vacation last Wednesday to find that my pump was not running and the display was showing the "Drive ERROR, Pump has stalled" message. I was gone for a week so I don't know when it happened. The pool was in pretty good shape, though, so it probably hadn't been more than a day or two.
I was sure the pump was only 2 1/2 years old but after a search of photos on my phone I determined that I was off by a year! It was professionally installed in February of 2014, not 2015. I knew I had registered it on the Hayward website to make it eligible for the 3 year extended warranty. Of course, now it was out of warranty.
I looked into buying a new pump and found a brand new EcoStar online for only $875 (no tax and free shipping). There's a $75 rebate from Hayward for this pump right now that supposedly requires professional installation but nowhere on the form do they ask for information about the installer. So I wasn't going to buy the drive to fix mine for only a few hundred less, especially since I wasn't sure that was the problem. I wanted to stay with the same pump for ease of installation - no mods required to my plumbing. I contacted Hayward customer support via email on the off chance that I might be able to talk them into covering it under warranty.
A guy finally got back to me after a day or so with a form to send to the Hayward warranty people in Phoenix. He also told me to get back to him if my request was denied. I filled out the form, scanned it, and emailed it to them - they also have a fax number, BTW. They got back to me the same day, Friday, by phone and email, assuring me that they would cover repairs or even full replacement of the pump if it was necessary.
They contacted Poolman who sent a guy out yesterday to change my drive with no cost to me for either parts or labor. Here's what Hayward told Poolman: "Hayward will cover all Ecostar drives for parts and labor during years 3-4, no approval needed. When it is over the 4th year we will take care of the parts with an approval code on a case by case basis."
While the guy was here repairing my pump he told me that he has repaired or replaced a lot of the EcoStar pumps and almost no TriStars. The TriStar is a newer model so it might not have enough time on it to know if it would fail in 3-5 years, but supposedly it has completely redesigned electronics. Also, he told me that the footprint and hookups of the TriStar match those of the EcoStar so it would be a direct replacement, and the cost isn't much different.
Finally, I have several observations:
1) The new drive came with a new keypad controller/display as well, revision 3.1.1. The menus are essentially the same except there is no Autoprime option and the prime duration is settable anywhere from 0.00 to 15.00 minutes in 30 second increments. I tried the 0.00 setting and it actually starts without priming! If you are still using Autoprime on your EcoStar pump, change it. I wasn't, but only because the original installer suggested not to.
2) The pump seems a bit louder than it was before, not the part that moves the water because that is the same, but the drive electronics I believe are producing a hum or whine that I didn't notice before. It's only noticeable when I get within 15-20 feet of the pump, though.
3) The exhaust fan appears to move more air. I don't know if this is because mine had diminished to some extent or the new controller has been modified to provide better cooling by running the fan at a higher speed. Or is the fan connected to the pump shaft and this is all in my head?
One more thing: Replacing the drive module pretty much requires that the pump be removed and turned over on its side in order to get to the screws. I forgot that I had bolted my pump in so I wasted some of the guy's time getting the bolts out before he could fix it. So do the repair guy a favor and remove your bolts before he gets there.
