Boiling water in pool pump

[stevex]

Yeah I figured that subject would get your attention.

I uncovered the pool a couple days ago and fired up the pump. Everything seemed fine - enough suction to run the pool cleaner.

Today I went to check on the pump and I see there's no water moving. One of the knobs that holds the basket lid closed is not on - I think someone must have cleaned the leaves out and not screwed them both on, and I guess what happened is the pump ran all day with no water moving.

There was a bit of water in the pump basket and it was darn near (or perhaps actually) boiling. Even an hour later the water is too hot to stick my hand in. I guess the whole inside of the thing heated up quite a bit running dry all day.

So, now what. I don't know if this has seriously damaged the thing, or if I can just seal it back up, turn it on, and expect it to be fine.

The motor still runs, and it sounds okay .. but I didn't let it run long enough to prime. (It always seems to take a long time to prime - many minutes - don't know how normal that is).

Thanks
-- Steve

 

[JasonLion]

The heat from running without prime can easily ruin the pump, but sometimes you get lucky. You won't really know until it cools down and you can prime it properly and see how things go.

 

[chiefwej]

Has the hot water distorted the filter basket or the lid so that it will not seal? If not you may be OK. I had a similar experience with my previous pool.

 

[btolley]

You might have leaks from melted PVC where it attaches to the pump. Had the same problem and I was much surprised to find the pump working fine (after fixing the leaks)

 

[stevex]

Well this sounds promising.

The PVC heading up to the sand filter was a bit less stiff than usual but nothing looked melted. The filter basket is okay. So maybe I got lucky. Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

If it won't prime tomorrow - what then? Is this a repair or a replace?