Hayward Matrix just buzzing

[jjherm7]

Hello,

Just recently purchased a new house with a pool. Trying to get my pump up for the season. It is a Hayward Power-Flo Matrix series pump. It worked at the end of last summer. Near the end of summer, after shutting off to recharge my DE filter, it wouldn't turn back on and was only making a buzzing sound. None of the mechanics seem like they're running. It is also tripping the breaker after it's on for a minute or two. I just decided to shut the pool down at this point, and deal with it in the summer.

Summers's here! Tried starting it up again today and it's still doing the same thing. Time to get a new pump? Or does anyone have any trouble-shooting tips I could try first? Have no idea how old the pump is as it came with the house.

-Jon H.

 

[danpik]

The usual suspect is a bad start capacitor. If you can reach down inside the strainer area and turn the impeller (power off) then that would be where I would start. If the impeller will not turn then I would suspect a bad bearing.

 

[jjherm7]

I was able to reach in and turn (what I think is) the impeller by hand. It didn't turn all that easily until I got it going, and made a small squeaking sound now and then. Thought maybe I could have jarred something loose, so tried starting up again.

Small squeak on first start up, and then back to just the humming/buzzing.

What's next? New pump?

-Jon

 

[jjherm7]

I'm happy to say that I found this article online at Hayward Power-Flo Troubleshooting & Repair Guide | Wet Head Media and it has worked to get my Hayward Matrix motor running again. Quoted below:

"After a long winter or sometimes when you don’t use the pool motor for an extended amount of time and with the right moisture conditions the armature of the motor can form surface rust and cause the motor to “freeze up”. Now, this isn’t the temperature kind of freeze, its more like a “humming sound” that will be coming from your Hayward power flo motor. You will usually hear this humming or jamming sound when you first plug in the pump, if in fact the motor is seized or jammed. Sometimes the frozen up pool pump motor will cause the circuit breaker to also blow.Most of the time people think that they will have to replace the Hayward Power Flo Pump at this point but you actually can try a small repair technique that sometimes will un-freeze your humming motor. What you will want to do is to get a rubber mallet or small hammer and tap the motor casing all around. This will “free up” the surface rust enough so that next time you plug it in the motor will be able to spin."

This seems to have worked like a charm! The motor does seem to be a little noisy, so not sure how rusty it might be in there. Anyone have any techniques to help with removing the rust from the motor??

-Jon