Booster pump won’t start

[wantang88]

I changed my main pump to variable speed a couple of months ago and it is working great. However, now my booster pump stopped working. It won’t start when I turn it on; I can only hear some humming sound. I replaced the capacitor with a new one, but still the same. Is the pump dead? This is a PB4-60 Polaris booster pump. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks.

Wan

 

[Texas Splash]

However, now my booster pump stopped working.

So apparently your booster pump is jealous the main pump got all the attention. Unless you got very unlucky with a bad cap out of the box (which can happen sometimes), the motor may just be bad. How old is it?

If confirmed bad, you can always change the motor and associated parts (shaft seal, backplate O-ring, etc). You might ask for a go-kit to get everything together if you've never done it before.

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[DeanP66]

Or ... you can decide that this is the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a robot and remove that booster pump from the pad completely. You will save a lot of electricity with a robot compared to a booster pump and Polaris sweeper.

 

[Bperry]

Or ... you can decide that this is the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a robot and remove that booster pump from the pad completely. You will save a lot of electricity with a robot compared to a booster pump and Polaris sweeper.

That would be my advice, but you can also try turning the motor over by hand (with the power off) in case the bearings got a little corrosion, then turn it back on.

 

[wantang88]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I will try turning the motor by hand. If the motor is dead, I will be interested in upgrading to a robot. I think I will do it sooner or later. Could you please provide more details on this? Thanks very much!

 

[DeanP66]

A robot is run separate from the pool equipment. It does not require either a booster pump or the pool pump to be running to function. You just plug the controller into an AC outlet and attach the robot's cord to the controller and turn it on. It usually will run for 2 hours and use very little electricity. The Dolphin robots have been received quite well on this forum. They make several different models as well as rebranded ones as well that are virtually the same unit, just with different colors.

I bought an S200 last summer and have really enjoyed it. I used to have a Polaris 280 with a booster pump that was over 20 years old and on its last legs. It was so noisy, it would drive me crazy when it ran for 2 hours a day. Once I converted to a variable speed pool pump, I realized that my little booster pump was costing me more electricity per day running for only 2 hours than my VSP was running 24/7 at low rpms. I made the decision to discontinue using the booster pump and the Polaris and looked into a robot. I sold both the booster pump and Polaris on craigslist and ordered my S200 from Marina Pool and Spa.

Happy with my decision so far, and now I don't have that annoying noise from the old booster pump anymore.

 

[wantang88]

Hi Dean, thanks very much for the suggestion. The dolphin robot looks great.

 

[DeanP66]

It's not bullet proof, and some issues can arise, but the nice thing is that it is very user friendly to take apart and clean things like the impeller or clean any other junk that could get lodged in areas. You only need a screwdriver and that's about it.