Please help with Pump wire and noise

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mickey4paws

mickey4paws

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Apr 10, 2009
754
S.E. MI
We have a Hayward 1 HP Superpump. I noticed yesterday the loud noise. There are 2 spots on the pump for what I am assuming are grounding wires. Looking at the connection on the right side, the wire had come completely off. I shut off the pump and we found the screw. So my husband put the screw back on. We turned the pump back on and it seemed to be okay. Then just now I heard it being loud again but the screw is still on. I have now shut off the pump.

Here is a picture and a very short video to give you an idea of what it sounds like. Looks like I can't do sound videos so here are 2 pics of the wire and pump.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
JamesW said:
Post a video on YouTube and link.

The pictures are too blurry. Do you have better pictures?
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for the reply, James. Unfortunately my phone takes awful pics, but I'll try to get better ones. Meanwhile, I found a diagram for the pump and it looks like #12, the housing cap screw is it. The wire attached to the screw harness though does come up from the ground. The noise it makes is a low rythmic buzz. I turned the pump back on and so far, no noise. There are no leaks and never were. One thing about the screw, it was very, very rusty and wondering if that's why it came off. Might just try getting another screw. Meanwhile, here is the diagram where you can see #12 and my husband thinks that is where that screw goes. Hopefully it will be legible. Thanks again, I really appreciate it.

Hayward Super Pump006.jpg
 
Nothing is supposed to connect to the screw.

The bond wire only connects to the bonding lug. You can see the copper lug in this picture.

step1-p1060083.jpg


The noise sounds like bad bearings. Bad bearings are usually due to a seal leak.

If there is a wet spot under the pump, it might be leaking.

You can use a flashlight to look under the pump to see if it's leaking. You have to look from the back at an angle and toward the center of the pump.
 
Thanks so much, James. We'll take another look at it. Unfortunately the way our equipment is set up, it is hard to get around the pump. Funny, the last pump we had (another Hayward Super Pump) had a leak and some thing else that needed to be replaced. AT the same time, there was a rebate and great sale, so we decided to go for the new pump. I'm not happy about this at all. Pump is probably just over a year old (just enough to cancel the warranty).

If it is a leak, do you think it would be ok to run for another week. I know when our PB comes out, he can fix it, but in the meantime, I need the pump to run.
 
As near as I can make out in the pictures, that is your bonding lug and bonding wire. How or if that is connected should have no bearing whatsoever on the noise(s) you are hearing. I don't know enough about those pumps to tell you if that is the proper bonding lug, or someone's DIY fix. But for now, connect it back up. It provides a safety measure for your pool from random voltages running around your equipment and your pool and your deck, etc. It should not be removed.

Everything about it should be clean and shiny, as much as you can. No rust or dirt or paint should be such that it would inhibit good electrical contact. To be prudent, you should shut off all the breakers to your pool equipment while you reconnect it, then turn everything back on.

Then your PB can come out, fix the pump and confirm or establish a proper bond between your pump and your other equipment.

And not to put too fine a point on it: if you don't know what wiring is doing at your pool, you shouldn't be messing with it yourself. Finding it loose and reconnecting it was a good thing in this case (I actually wrote a thread about that very thing, but nobody paid attention to me over there!), but you could just have easily misunderstood what was going on and created a bigger (possibly dangerous) situation. Pool electrical wiring is a big deal.

Certainly running it by the experts here at TFP was a good step.
 
Dirk said:
As near as I can make out in the pictures, that is your bonding lug and bonding wire. How or if that is connected should have no bearing whatsoever on the noise(s) you are hearing. I don't know enough about those pumps to tell you if that is the proper bonding lug, or someone's DIY fix. But for now, connect it back up. It provides a safety measure for your pool from random voltages running around your equipment and your pool and your deck, etc. It should not be removed.

Everything about it should be clean and shiny, as much as you can. No rust or dirt or paint should be such that it would inhibit good electrical contact. To be prudent, you should shut off all the breakers to your pool equipment while you reconnect it, then turn everything back on.

Then your PB can come out, fix the pump and confirm or establish a proper bond between your pump and your other equipment.

And not to put too fine a point on it: if you don't know what wiring is doing at your pool, you shouldn't be messing with it yourself. Finding it loose and reconnecting it was a good thing in this case (I actually wrote a thread about that very thing, but nobody paid attention to me over there!), but you could just have easily misunderstood what was going on and created a bigger (possibly dangerous) situation. Pool electrical wiring is a big deal.

Certainly running it by the experts here at TFP was a good step.
Click to expand...

Dirk, thank you so much for your reply. It is much appreciated. We are going to get a new screw because the old screw is in such bad shape we can't get it to stay in. Great recommendations on cautions with the electricity too.

The picture James W posted above looks like ours on the one side of the pump. Then the other side is where we believe the bonding wire coming out of the ground was attached to. Anyway, thankfully PB will be out next week and we can get it straightened up properly.
 

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Update: Well, the plan was PB is coming out next Tuesday to close the pool anyway. He's extremely busy this time of year so he was going to take the motor out for us and there are a couple nearby motor rebuilding places and we would take it to one, get it fixed, and then in spring PB would reinstall it. I also had another possible idea. This pump replaced the same model we had back in March 2017. We kept the old pump which had leaks and needs about $180 worth of parts, but the motor was still good. At that time they were having a sale and for about $100 more we decided to just get a new pump since the leaking pump was pretty old. But we kept the old one for backup parts. So I thought maybe if the motor was still good, we'd just have them switch motors.

Then.........about 3:00 a.m. it dawned on me. We paid with our Mastercard. Since some credit cards will extend your warranty, I called my bank this morning and found out I am eligible for this. They are sending me some documents to fill out and I'll also have to send them the receipt (I wish they'd give what it would cost to replace the pump instead of the discounted price I actually paid), but who cares, because if they send me a check for what I paid for the pump, I"ll be so happy.

So for now, we're running the pump a lot less and will probably just use liquid chlorine and leave the SWG off. Now this morning when I turned the pump on, it was quiet. But about 2 hours later, it started making the noise again. I"m wondering if it happens when the pump heats up to a certain degree. I just want to use it hopefully up to Sept 25 when we close. We also got a new screw for the bonding wire and attached that in the meantime. I'll let the PB fix it up properly though. I am very respectfull of electricity. I can change power supply in a computer, for example, but when it comes to more complicated stuff, I'll let someone licensed do it.

Thanks again, I really appreciate the help! I"m sure I'll be bothering you guys again when it comes time to buy a new pump and what kind to get. We always still have the option to repair the motor too. Maybe it wouldn't even cost that much to do, but I have no idea.

Anyway, I think this is a good reminder to get credit cards that have the extended warranty benefit.
 
Update: Pump now pretty much dead, need help to keep circulation till next week

We're still waiting for PB next week. In meantime we've been running the pump an hour here and there, and it had been fine. We have a solar cover that decided to disintegrate and shed blue meanie bubbles. Like dummies, we decided to backwash. After we did the rinse part and went back to filter, the pump is making a pretty horrible noise so we shut it down.

In the meantime other than adding chlorine and brushing, were there be any way to use our submersible pump https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000X05G1A/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to circulate the water for short periods of time?

If so, can you tell me exactly how to hook it up? Normally we just use this pump to pump off the winter cover, but I have no idea where you'd put the pump and the hose if using it for recirculation.

Thanks very much.
 
If your pH is good, if possible, avoid breaking or even rippling the surface, that'll drive your pH up. When I've seen pool guys do it, they always tie a rope to it. I imagine this is to be able to haul it out without yanking on the cord.
 
Thanks so much for the reply, Dirk. When we use the subpump for our winter cover, we put it in a plastic basket (like you get at the grocery store to hold by hand if you're just buying a few items). Then I took a bungee cord and wrap it once around the throat of the subpump and hooked it on each side of the basket so the subpump would stay upright. Maybe I could just use that same set up, only this time wrap a rope around the handle too so I can get the subpump out when I need to, or just push a pole through the basket's handles. I also have one of those plastic milk carton containers.

This has been a strange summer. PH has stayed constantly at 7.4 or 7.5, and not once have we had to add muriatic acid. Water has been nice and clear all summer. But the equipment is another story. Can't help wondering if those blue dots from the solar cover messed everything up. It's odd that after backwashing the filter, the pump started making the noises. The pump still primes and pushes water through the lines too. Not going to run it if at all possible though because I'm sure with our luck, it will seize up.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it, Dirk.
 
I think I remember the pump falling over during one of the times my pool was emptied. Your set up sounds like a good one.
 
Mickey4paws,

My story is somewhat similar, but different. We purchased a house 15 months ago. We had asked for the pool to be open and running for June 1 2017. The previous owner installed a new Hayward 1 H Super Pump. I had asked for a receipt and registered the pump at Hayward.

Well then I phoned Hayward Canada in August. They confirmed that the pump was just past the warranty period but they replaced it out of courtesy anyway. I received a new pump in August.

"The pump is just out of warranty but I will go ahead and send you a new one. Could you confirm your shipping address and phone number so I can process an order."

A phone call to Hayward tech support might not hurt.

My solar cover also disintegrated leaving blue bits everywhere. I resorted to using a sock in the skimmer to avoid jamming the impeller with plastic bits.
 

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