Pump got submerged during heavy rain

[Djdogg238]

Hello,
I just found this forum. I did a quick search for pumps that got submerged and was wondering if anyone has any experience in this area.
We just had 2 weeks of on-and-off rain storms, which culminated with a massive downpour on Thursday. My entire yard got flooded, which put my pump about 3/4 of the way under water.
It was only under water for about 2 hours, but the water wasn't exactly clean.

I have a 1 year old Hayward 2-speed super pump.
The pump was not running at the time and I have not applied any power to it.
My plan was to disassemble the motor, rinse it out with distilled water, blow it out with compressed air, wipe it dry (as best as I can), then put it in the oven at about 150 degrees for several hours to try and evaporate any water out of it. Then say a prayer and hope for the best.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
-jon

 

[Bama Rambler]

Keep the power off and rinse it out with clean water. Blow it dry and when you're sure it's dry try to run it. Since it wasn't running there's a good chance it'll be fine. You don't necessarily have to use distilled water. Just clean tap water will work. Just make sure it's dry before reapplying power.

 

[Djdogg238]

I'll give that a shot. It doesn't look like there's any sediment in there now. I initially did rinse it out with the hose when it was still wet. The bearings spin fine and the seals look good.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks
-jon

 

[Djdogg238]

Update:

I took the hose and washed out the inside of the motor. Surprisingly, a lot more debris came out than what should have. So, there may have been some rust and/or shavings on the inside, inaddition to any dirt. I then washed it out w/ about 4 gallons of distilled water. It was less than $1/gallon at the grocery store, so i figured it couldn't hurt.
I also dried out the capacitor housing, since that took on some water when I was rinsing out the motor.
I put a small fan on the motor for several hours for a couple of days, then let it sit for another day in the garage.
Hooked it up and all appears to be working fine.

It's hard to tell if the motor is running louder than before it got submerged. I can't tell if it's running hot, since I never measured how hot it used to be while running.
After running on high speed for 2 hours, the housing temperature is about 120-135 degrees, depending on what part of the housing I aim the infrared thermometer at. On low speed, it's around 110-120 degrees. It was also 85 degrees out today, with very little windflow.

So, hopefully it continues to work and no permanent damage has occured.

thanks
-jon

 

[Bama Rambler]

Sounds like it's fine. Glad it worked out for you.