Breaker trips on pump

[Pauljones]

Hello so I need some help on how to proceed. I recently purchased a house that came with a slat water pool. Everything worked perfectly until I decided to winterize it... I turned the pump off, travelled and it's been months. I tried turning it on yesterday and it tripped the circuit and would not turn on. I reset the circuit breaker and tried again but same results. Can someone please help or advise what the issue might be? I saw that it was not a good idea to turn the pump for such a long time. But can someone please advise on what the issues might be with it?

Thank you for your help folks!

 

[Pauljones]

Thanks Jim! You the man!

There is the pool/pool pump on the same pole breaker (right now with they are all GE's on the exterior).

I'll check with an electrician to see if it is OK to use the Siemens GFCI double pole breaker on this panel.

View attachment 172113

Hello just wondering if this worked for you? I am having similar issues. Just bought the house, no issues for months, shut the pump down during winter and now it keeps tripping the circuit

 

[Orion7319]

Some VS pumps have been said to trip some GFCI breakers because the pumps can produce some electrical noise that some breakers are sensitive to. People recommend using Siemens CFCI breakers because they aren’t as susceptible to this apparently. I ran into this issue when I upgraded my pump to a pentair superflow vst last summer. If I run my pump speed below 1400 rpm it will trip my GE branded GFCI breaker eventually. My solution to this is to simply never run the pump lower then 1400RPM.

 

[ajw22]

My two pumps stays off for 6 months every year without a problem.

Do you have a GFCI CB?

You may have got some corrosion in the pump during the winter. Do you have a multimeter? With the CB off I would open up the electrical connections in the pump and check they are clean.

 

[Pauljones]

You is the pump plugged into a gfci socket? It seems like it's plugged into a regular socket. The circuit breaker is in my basement and I have reset it a couple times but each time I turn it on trips. The electrical connections in the pump, where can I find that?

 

[ajw22]

You is the pump plugged into a gfci socket? It seems like it's plugged into a regular socket.

Is your plug hard wired or have a cord with a plug into a wall outlet? If so post pics of the connection.

The electrical connections in the pump, where can I find that?

It is in the back of the pump where the grey wire conduit goes into the pump.

 

[Pauljones]

So I talked to the previous home owner he said he doubts it's the wiring and said it could be that the pump motor is broken because I didn't winterize it properly (I forgot to drain the pump before winter and we did have some freezing days in Louisville ky this winter).. I just still don't understand how a broken motor would trip the circuit, doesn't make any sense to me.
Attached is the wiring for the pump.. it was done really well and it's hard for me to think it's the wiring so maybe it is the circuit breaker in the basement..

 

[ajw22]

Show me a pic of the pump breaker.

 

[swamprat69]

If you have a multimeter, kill power to the pump motor. Open the end cap on the motor to access the electrical connections to the pump motor. Double check that there is no (0V) voltage to ground on either line voltage feed to the pump motor. Set the meter to continuity (ohms). Check continuity to ground on both line voltage feeds to the pump motor. If you show continuity from either line voltage feed on the pump motor to ground, either the pump motor windings are shorted to ground or a line voltage wire to the pump motor is shorted to ground. That way you can either confirm or eliminate a problem with the pump motor and/or the wiring to the pump motor.

 

[ajw22]

Before you breakout your multimeter check that the motor shaft rotates freely and it did not develop corrosion and freeze during the winter.

 

[wireform]

I also spotted a shifted gasket on the switch top view, possibly water intrusion.