Blown Motor?

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T

tedbundrick

Well-known member
Apr 24, 2019
92
Lafayette
Pentair Challenger pump - motor was screaming, very loud. Rather than replacing bearings, I opted to replace motor - Centurion Pool and Spa Pump Motor - B2854. Upon power up, post-install, the pump took a long time to prime and once running, did not seem to push water as strongly as one I had before. Smelled slight burnt smell. Pump eventually stopped pumping. Between first & second run attempts I changed all necessary o-rings & seals via Pentair Challenger repair kit.

I found cheapest ‘B2854’ motor online -should I have looked to see what specific brand was authorized by Pentair? Anything else I screw up during this motor swap? Help!
 
Update, left home for little while. Came back and started pump - motor comes back on but at the same reduced flow rate. I’m guessing the inefficiency creates excess heat and threw motor into an overload situation. Anyways, thinking I just need a new motor???
 

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The old motor is not the original motor that came with the pump. The original motor was 2 hp with a service factor of 1.1, which makes the total hp = 2.2.

The second and third motors have a 1.5 hp and a 1.1 service factor, which makes a total of 1.65 total hp.

The second motor was made on the 255th day of 2017. So, it’s only about 3 years old. Most likely the impeller is the original and it is overloading the motor. There was probably a seal leak that got water into the front bearing, which would cause the bearings to fail.

The replacement motors should have a total hp of 2.2 unless the impeller was replaced with a smaller impeller.

If the original impeller is still being used, the motor will be significantly overloaded and it will overheat.

Impeller, 35-5315 Pac Fab (355315) is the original impeller. The diffuser that goes with this impeller is 355270.

Impeller 1.5 THP – 355369 would be the correct impeller for the current motor. The diffuser that goes with this impeller is 355188.

Impeller for Pentair Challenger 1-1/2HP Full and 2HP Uprated CHII Series Pool Pump - 35-5315 - INYOPools.com

355315 - IMPELLER, 35-5315 PAC FAB (355315)
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com

Pentair Challenger CH 2 HP 115/230V Single Speed, UR Pump - INYOPools.com

Your source for Pentair pool pumps.
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com

Pentair Replacement Impeller, 1.5 THP, Challenger - 355369 - INYOPools.com

355369 - IMPELLER, 35-5369 PAC FAB (355369)
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com


Verify that you have the smaller impeller. You can replace the impeller if you currently have the bigger impeller installed and hopefully, the new motor is not burned up from being overloaded.
 
Last edited:
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Thank you - this makes lots of sense. I simply matched what was on before without giving much extra thought. I will search out this larger hp motor.

All that said, why would this one struggle so quickly when the older one lasted years? Perhaps I wasn’t careful enough with installing seals - not sure how forgiving that process is. For instance, when I seated the shaft seal, the internal black gasket wanted to pop up and I had to firmly press to get that to seat. Maybe this caused inundation of water on newer, weaker, motor?
 
pentair-355315-dims.jpg


355315 impeller.

pentair-355369-dims.jpg


355369 impeller.
 

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I confirmed - it is the original 355315 impeller, confirming your comments about current motor being under-sized. Going see if I can get a 2.2 motor locally

JamesW said:
The old motor is not the original motor that came with the pump. The original motor was 2 hp with a service factor of 1.1, which makes the total hp = 2.2.

The second and third motors have a 1.5 hp and a 1.1 service factor, which makes a total of 1.65 total hp.

The second motor was made on the 255th day of 2017. So, it’s only about 3 years old. Most likely the impeller is the original and it is overloading the motor. There was probably a seal leak that got water into the front bearing, which would cause the bearings to fail.

The replacement motors should have a total hp of 2.2 unless the impeller was replaced with a smaller impeller.

If the original impeller is still being used, the motor will be significantly overloaded and it will overheat.

Impeller, 35-5315 Pac Fab (355315) is the original impeller. The diffuser that goes with this impeller is 355270.

Impeller 1.5 THP – 355369 would be the correct impeller for the current motor. The diffuser that goes with this impeller is 355188.

Impeller for Pentair Challenger 1-1/2HP Full and 2HP Uprated CHII Series Pool Pump - 35-5315 - INYOPools.com

355315 - IMPELLER, 35-5315 PAC FAB (355315)
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com

Pentair Challenger CH 2 HP 115/230V Single Speed, UR Pump - INYOPools.com

Your source for Pentair pool pumps.
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com

Pentair Replacement Impeller, 1.5 THP, Challenger - 355369 - INYOPools.com

355369 - IMPELLER, 35-5369 PAC FAB (355369)
www.inyopools.com www.inyopools.com


Verify that you have the smaller impeller. You can replace the impeller if you currently have the bigger impeller installed and hopefully, the new motor is not burned up from being overloaded.
Click to expand...
 
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I’m no electrician but put voltmeter on source double-pole breaker and got 123V coming off. Just turned pump back on and get same voltage between black/ground and black/red but not red/ground
 

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Note: Do not switch to 115 volts unless you are sure that the supply is really 115 or you will definitely burn up the motor.

I'm pretty sure that the original power was 230 volts because the wires are black and red.

If the original supply was 115 volts, the wires should be black and white.

I suspect that the power supply is damaged somewhere.

Was the old motor set to 115 or 230 volts?
 

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