Centrifugal Switch Question

[Woody007]

What would the pump motor do it the Centrifugal Switch were to be hitting the terminal board because I didn't get the terminal board over the lower mounting stud?
It gnawed a bit of the edge of the board but didn't hit any terminals.
It's on a pump I repurposed, and it runs fine until it gets primed and under a load then it trips gfi.
Hopefully my rebuild error is the cause.

 

[mas985]

A detailed history would be helpful

Was this pump motor on the same GFCI before it was repurposed and did it run correctly without tripping the GFCI?

Or was there another pump on the same GFCI that was tripping and caused you to replace the pump motor?

GFCIs can and do fail.

Alternatively, the situation you outlined could also cause some issues. A tripping GFCI means that the current is finding an alternate route through ground. The rubbing on the terminal board was an additional load which could have caused an over current condition shorting internal wiring to the case.

Also can you post some pictures of both sides of the terminal board?

 

[JamesW]

Is it this?

I can't see the voltage written on the terminal board.

Maybe the selector is not set correctly?

Are you using 115 or 230 volts?

Best Way to Remove Silt After Opening

I have a mesh cover that lets fine material through during the winter. Water was very clear at opening but had a layer of fine silt all over the bottom. Pumping to waste is hard for me to do by myself because I have a hard time with the adapter plate staying on the skimmer. The bag on my...

www.troublefreepool.com

 

[JamesW]

It's on a pump I repurposed, and it runs fine until it gets primed and under a load then it trips gfi.

How do you know that the GFCI is tripping and not the overload?

Did you check amps?

 

[Woody007]

Is it this?

I can't see the voltage written on the terminal board.

Maybe the selector is not set correctly?

Are you using 115 or 230 volts?

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Best Way to Remove Silt After Opening

I have a mesh cover that lets fine material through during the winter. Water was very clear at opening but had a layer of fine silt all over the bottom. Pumping to waste is hard for me to do by myself because I have a hard time with the adapter plate staying on the skimmer. The bag on my...

www.troublefreepool.com

The spring-loaded centrifugal switch in the middle of your picture was rubbing on the terminal board (white piece to the right), but only while motor is running. I'm trying to sort out if that switch couldn't fully engage (or disengage) what that did to the circuitry. Does it leave the starter cap in the circuit or something else that would trip GFCI at the outlet.
I tried it at another house, and it would run up until it primed and started getting a load on it. It's configured for 110 with that switch.
I'm unsure what exactly the centrifugal switch does. It has a piece that rides off the center of it that pushes on the two long copper tabs at the 6 o'clock position in the backplate pictures above. If the centrifugal switch couldn't move enough to impact those two tabs, what happens? I can't tell if it's designed to open or close those contacts as the motor spins up to speed.

 

[JamesW]

The switch should open to take the start capacitor out of the circuit.

It looks like your voltage selector switch is not set completely to 115 volts.

 

[Woody007]

The switch should open to take the start capacitor out of the circuit.

It looks like your voltage selector switch is not set completely to 115 volts.

I'm guessing that the switch couldn't fully take the cap out of the circuit because it was rubbing. My fault when I put the terminal block back in, the bottom mount was to the left instead of being over the mounting tab.
The voltage selector is all the way over to the 115 side. I exercised it a few times to make sure.
Hopefully I'll get a chance to try the setup again and be able to use it in the spring to get the silt out. Otherwise, I'm going to have to resort to using a syphon down the hill, which may be a better option anyway.

 

[Woody007]

Reporting back that I was able to try out the pump and it's now working properly.
I corrected the 110/220 selector to be more solidly engaged on 110 and moved the junction board to its correct position so the centrifugal switch didn't hit it at speed. GFCI outlet no longer trips and was able to use with 25' extension as well.