Hayward pump died, needs rescusitation.

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L

lonesouth

0
Jan 21, 2010
14
Man there is a forum out there for everything. I'm expecting this one is as helpful as the others I visit now and again.

Anyway, I live in north Florida and the 4" of rain we got over the course of an hour left my pool filthy and my pump dead. I've already removed it from the system, but when I first attempted to restart it, the breaker had tripped, so I flipped it back. There was a brief spark at the end of the pump and the breaker tripped immediately.

I am rather handy and am keen to learn and save some money, so I'm hoping you guys can walk me through the diagnostics and repair on this. The pump is a Hayward super pump with an AO Smith motor. My best guess is that the pump is 6 - 10 years old.

TIA,

Pool Noob

edit: I am concurrently making full use of the search function
 
Welcome to TFP!!

While I'm not 'the expert' to answer this, you might try changing out the capacitor :cool: Capacitors are fairly cheap and easy to install.

Just to check, there isn't any 'grinding' noise when the pump runs? Or leaks under the pump housing?

I believe that it's the capacitor, but the more info you can give us, the better we can help resolve the problem :)
 
There wasn't any running to speak of. It looked more like an arc and then immediate breaker trip. I only flipped it two or three times over the concern of burning up the timer. Tomorrow or Saturday I'll take a better look and see if the motor spins free or any grinding or otherwise.

There is a chance that the water rose enough to submerge part of the motor, but again I can not verify till later, it was at least 4" over the TOP of my pool and my liner had already been floated during hurricane faye. Its too dirty right now to tell if its worse or the same, but that is another matter. I didn't notice any water in the housing when I moved the pump from the slab.

I had another 1hp pump for a hot tub I got for free, but when I tested that one, it would spin up for a second or two, then trip the breaker. I'm starting to suspect the breaker except for the sparks I'm seeing in the original pump.
 
I've seen the wiring terminals get loose and arc, so it could be that. The centrifugal switch will arc too but you normally can't see that. If the cap's shorted out it'll cause the switch to arc and smoke.
 
got a verbal quote for rebuild of my existing motor, bearings, contacts and windings for $160. I think I'll just get a new two speed motor instead. Can someone point me to a how-to on installing a two speed in place of a single and what gaskets should be replaced at the same time? Also, I've seen some people say they need to replace the impeller to match the new motor?

edit:

Conclusion - After much searching of the web, I've determined that I can in fact replace the single speed pump with a two speed pump so long as the HPxSF >= the one being replaced. The existing pump is 1HPx1.1SF=1.1BHP, the replacement I'm looking at is a STS1072R .75HPx1.5SF=1.125BHP. I've found it for $196 + $30 shipping. Have to order the seals from somewhere else though.
 

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Man this things runs GREAT, till the impeller shaft breaks. Think it might be due to me running the pump with NO water in it thinking it was 'self priming' it wouldn't be a problem. So, I'll pick up another impeller and shaft seal. AHHHHHHH
 
lonesouth said:
Man this things runs GREAT, till the impeller shaft breaks. Think it might be due to me running the pump with NO water in it thinking it was 'self priming' it wouldn't be a problem. So, I'll pick up another impeller and shaft seal. AHHHHHHH
Click to expand...
Big ouch! But just think of all the experience you're acquiring while attending classes in the infamous School of Hard Knocks! :rant:
 
Got the new impeller and installed the shaft seal the CORRECT way with the ceramic side on ceramic side. The new impeller has a brass stem and seems to be better constructed. The pump is up and running and works great. Incredibly quiet and NO LEAKS!!! I tossed in 3 bags of shock and 240lbs of salt, hoping the water will clear up in a week, we'll see. It was a great shade of green/brown.
 
Now you can read-up on Pool School and use BBB instead of bags of shock.

Pool School is located on the top right of every forum page and in my siggy.

Hope you have an uneventful summer after all your pump woes! Good Luck and welcome to TFP! :cool:
 
Thanks for the advice, I'll be going to pool school for sure! I went ahead and added the shock and salt in hopes of having at least clear water soonish. From what I can tell so far, running the leaf net around, there aren't many leaves in the pool, mostly dirt and film. The salt came up to 2400 PPM, enough to generate, and I'll pick up two more bags on the way home. I need a new pressure gauge, but I'm figuring on backwashing about once a day till the pool is clear. Checked on the pump this morning and it is happily humming away, at some point I'll need to add the wiring for the two speed switch, but I'll start another thread for that.
 
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