Do pumps shut off when they get to hot?

[germangirl]

Hello,

well the subject line kinda says it all. I didn't keep a good enough eye on the water level and it got too low, so the pump was sucking air. I never checked how hot it gets during normal operation, but it sure was hot! When I realized it I turned it off, filled pool and it seems to be running fine.
However all that made me wonder if there is thermal overload shutoff on the pump so it can't burn out?

thanks and stay cool everybody

 

[JohnT]

The motor will shut off if it gets to hot, but the pump itself can get hot enough to deform without water flow.

During normal operation the motor gets too hot hold your hand on.

 

[CUTiger78]

I don't know if they all have thermal shutoffs. I have certainly run a pump motor so hot (due to lack of water flow) that it literally fried the motor (burned insulation off the wires) and melted the impeller.

I'm not sure it's normal for a pump motor to be too hot to touch during normal operation. My 1 HP Hayward SuperPump never gets too hot to touch unless somethings wrong, like too little water flow.

 

[germangirl]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I hope it didn't do any damage.
Guess I will have to check during normal operation to see how hot is normal for our pump.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

What caused the water to get too low?

 

[germangirl]

It was a little lower than normal an I knew with this heat we are having, it would have to be refilled soon.
What I did NOT know is how much water 5 teenage boys can splash out of a pool in 2hrs playing basketball in the pool and jumping of the diving board.

I still remember the times when they were little and cute and would have asked lots of questions like: "why are there bubbles coming out of the returns all of a sudden?"

Oh well, just gotta love them!