Pump Tripping Breaker

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Sabao767

0
Jun 15, 2016
2
Fall River, MA
Hi, I have a Waterway Hi-Flo pump that is 3yrs old. A few days after taking it out of winter storage, I live in the NE, the pump started tripping the GFI inside the garage, I checked all the wiring for moisture and there was none, changed the GFI and same result. Change the plug where the pump is plugged in, and it still popped the GFI. I plugged it into another circuit inside the garage an it tripped the breaker. I have also tried to plug in a light and a stereo to the same circuit and it worked fine.

After leaving it alone for a couple of days, I decided to plug it in again and after tripping the breaker a couple of times it started up and worked fine for another week. Today it started doing the same thing again. The wiring was done by a certified electrician and the pool is grounded.

The motor spins freely and I even changed the capacitor. It hasn't rained in over 5 days here.

Can anyone help me with this issue?

Thank you
 
Welcome to TFP :)

Can you have the motor checked out by a company, it sounds like the innards are going out...
 
You eliminated the the breaker and circuit being at fault. There is something wrong with your pump motor. You may have a mostly dead capacitor which could explain the high current draw on start up. There are other things that could be wrong but you can start with the cheap and easy fix first.
 
Find a motor repair shop and have them look at it for you. It sounds like the windings in the motor may be getting bad. They have a real simple test to check for this. High current draw will not trip a GFCI. If it was only the breaker tripping I would suspect that, but with the GFCI tripping, A GFCI will trip if voltage is leaking to ground
 
You've done a pretty good job of isolating the problem as being the motor. When it was plugged-in and running last pool season, I would assume that it was running fine then, yes? Also, when left off-line or non-charged working, then plugged back it and it wks for a week then starting again, that would lead me to believe you have a short. Once it heats up, something is shorting.

I would take it to a [qualified] pool motor repair shop and have it tested for all. I would also do some searches on your pump make/model/age/yr and see if anything else comes us w the same prob and hopefully the solution...maybe you could cut to the chase much faster...good luck
 
Circuit breakers and GFCI's offer 2 different types of protection. The circuit breaker protects from "over current" aka drawing too much amperage (load) The GFCI monitors the power going out on the circuit and the power coming back, if it senses a difference it assumes the power has found an alternate source for returning to earth and shuts it off. Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters actually have nothing to do with a "ground" at all.
One would have to assume that your pump has an alternate source of return for the power, such a good return that its overloading the circuit breaker. Unless you are very confident in your electrical knowledge and ability I would take the motor out for service. This could be potentially deadly!
 
"Unless you are very confident in your electrical knowledge and ability I would take the motor out for service. This could be potentially deadly!"

Good point. If it's raining and wet, I certainly would not be touching or near the motor where it could be grounding out. As previously stated, turn-off the breaker and take it in to have it serviced.
 
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