Pump breaker - Help

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T

tobydog

0
May 15, 2016
34
Central Valley/ CA
After getting my water dialed in with the TFP method, the equipment on my less than a year old pool has an electrical issue. Admittedly, I'm not the most electrical savvy, but this is what's going on:

Came home two days ago during the time the filter pump is set to run and found it to be off. I went out and saw that the breaker for the pump had tripped. I reset it and the pump turned on at low speed (due to the programming) for about 5 seconds then shut off. I reset it again and it immediately tripped. I didn't have time to mess with it so that is all I did. Since then, i have tried resetting it again with the same results.

Contacted the PB and was referred to the warranty company. Problem is, the next appointment available is a week out. With temps around 100 until then, I'm thinking I'm going to end up with a swamp. I called the warranty guy and he assured me it wouldn't happen. When I told him what was going on, he said it was probably the pump causing the problem.

I tried resetting the breaker again today and the controller actually turned on. I quickly turned off the pump and the controller stayed on. I then turned on the lights and they came on with out tripping the breaker. After I turned them off, nothing happened for a few seconds then the breaker tripped again. At this point, it will not even stay in the on position. Any ideas about what the problem could be? Any easy troubleshooting things I can do?

To deal with the water, I have added a gal of 10% a day to bring the FC to 10-11 (CYA 80) and brushed the walls. Hopefully this will do enough until the pump is running again. Any suggestions about what else I can do?

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I agree it sounds like the pump motor has a problem throwing the breaker ... hopefully the warranty company will take care of it.

You can still maintain the FC level in the water and just brush a lot to keep it mixed ... sounds like you have a plan.
 
Looks like it might be a GFCI breaker. If so, it's probably not tripping due to overcurrent, but some stray leakage. Those breakers are also prone to fail and trip just because they want to. Surges and lightning seem to kill them easily. My 2004 pool has normal breakers and that is fine with me. However, code requires the GFCIs on newer pools.

I can't recommend that someone not used to wiring try this, but I'd swap in a standard breaker, while keeping folks out of the pool, and see if the pump operates normally. (You'd have to kill the main feed coming in to the box.) If it does, then it makes sense to try a new GFCI breaker to rule that out. (They are not cheap, but you'll need a new one, eventually.) If a new one trips, then you've got current leakage in the pump circuit. That will take a little voodoo to track down and might mean a new pump. If it doesn't, the problem was the breaker and you're good.
 
Durk said:
Looks like it might be a GFCI breaker. If so, it's probably not tripping due to overcurrent, but some stray leakage. Those breakers are also prone to fail and trip just because they want to. Surges and lightning seem to kill them easily. My 2004 pool has normal breakers and that is fine with me. However, code requires the GFCIs on newer pools.

I can't recommend that someone not used to wiring try this, but I'd swap in a standard breaker, while keeping folks out of the pool, and see if the pump operates normally. (You'd have to kill the main feed coming in to the box.) If it does, then it makes sense to try a new GFCI breaker to rule that out. (They are not cheap, but you'll need a new one, eventually.) If a new one trips, then you've got current leakage in the pump circuit. That will take a little voodoo to track down and might mean a new pump. If it doesn't, the problem was the breaker and you're good.
Click to expand...

Thank you!
 
Update...

I did some troubleshooting and thought the pump was probably bad. After waiting a week, the warranty repair company came out and confirmed the pump motor needs to be replaced. Problem is, it will be another week until they will get it. The water did fine during the first week, but it's now beginning to turn green. During the first week, I kept the FC at 10-11 and everything seemed fine. Although I haven't let the FC get below 7.5, it looks like the algae taking over.

I added over 2 gals of 10% over the course of a couple hours and now the FC is 15 and the CC is .5. Any suggestions as to how I can avoid a full blown swamp until the new motor is installed in 6 days??? Will it do any good to bring the FC to SLAM level without a working pump?

Oh yea, I have people coming over for the 4th tomorrow who expect to go swimming....figures.
 
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