HELP Please - Pentair Whisperflo wiring issue

Jun 25, 2009
18
Greetings,
I am very familiar with electrical connections and have wired subpanels, transfer switches, booster pumps, etc. BUT, I am having an issue with a new Pentair Whisperflo 3/4 HP pump (WFE-3). I am wiring the pump with 115V. On the pump motor, it states that is wired for 230V at the factory but 115V can be used if you move the BROWN wire to terminal B, the white wire to L2 and then connect line voltage to L1 and L2. I quadruple checked that I have the pump wired exactly as listed but as soon as I hit the ON switch, the 20A AFCI pops and I barely hear a tick out of the pump. I checked the pump impeller and it rotates freely.

I noticed that the placard on the pump doesn't refer to 230V and 115V but rather high voltage and low voltage. Since I am wiring 115V, I am assuming that I should wire in accordance with the low voltage instructions.

Does anyone have any ideas???? Would someone be kind enough to check their 115V Pentair Whisperflo and see how you are wired?? THANKS :cheers:
 
Thank you for taking time to reply. Here is a picture of the back of the Pentair Whisperflo 3/4HP WFE-3. Brown on Terminal B, White on L2, nothing on Terminal A and my black & white hot & neutral go to L1 & L2 (not hooked up in this picture)
 

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I cant tell where you are hooking up to (assuming the two Phillips heads) . But your low voltage convert looks ok. Can you post pic of service plate that shows wiring hook ups? Some motors are specific as to which terminal is neutral. See if it still trips with it disconnected from the motor.
 
Sorry about the multiple posts but I reread what you were asking for. In addition to the pictures, to answer your question, the circuit breaker does NOT blow if it is not connected to the Pentair pump. The weird thing, I hooked up the pump the same way I hooked it up originally to see if it would trip the circuit breaker again. This time, did not trip the circuit breaker, voltage checked good at 122V, and no motor hum, click, or movement. :?:
 
Just to say "THANKS!" for this post.

It was the only place on the web where I found an image of how to rewire a Pentair WFE 3 for 115v (it comes wired for 220v out of the box and I kept getting confused where to attach the white pump wire).

Someone had wired mine incorrectly and it kept getting really hot, so it would shut down intermittently.
 

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