Has anyone ever replaced a motor on a Jandy AE-Ti heat pump?

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anthonypool89

anthonypool89

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Aug 26, 2016
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Berks County, PA
If so..how much work is involved. I'm pretty sure I need a new motor. If I take off the fan, the motor shaft engages and turns, but as soon as the fan is put on, it won't turn. I was hoping that the wiring inside the motor is easily removed but it appears not. The pictures I'm seeing show that the motor comes with the wiring intact and then has to be hooked up to the service panel. I'm sure I could do it IF everything is easily accessed, but I've never had the panel off nor did any work on this. Advice from someone who has perhaps?
 
I am assuming that when it tries to heat that the compressor runs but the fan motor doesn't. There could be several causes for this and you would need to be comfortable troubleshooting it electrically with a multimeter. You would need to see if power is getting to the motor from the contactor. You would need to see if the run capacitor is good. You would need to check if there is continuity through the motor windings. You would need to check the motor bearings ( the motor shaft might have some play in/out along the axis of the shaft, but should not have side to side play opposite the axis of the shaft). So it could be a power problem, a capacitor problem or a motor/ bearing problem. Here is the manual for the unit with an exploded parts view and parts list: https://www.bestbuypoolsupply.com/media/aemanual.pdf... I was looking online for parts prices and found that when ordering Jandy O.E.M. parts the prices are ridiculous for some common generic parts. As long as the specs on the motor or capacitor are the same... a motor/capacitor is a motor/capacitor and could be had for 1/4 to 1/3 the price of the Jandy O.E.M. part. A photo of the Tag on the motor would be helpful. As an alternative, you could have an HVAC company troubleshoot the unit to find the exact problem for a basic diagnostic fee and then either have them repair it or do it yourself if you feel comfortable after watching the technician take the unit apart and troubleshoot it. If you go this route, try to get a company that has NATE certified technicians as all HVAC technicians are not created equal (same goes for any household HVAC work). I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
 
Thanks for all that. I'm not real comfortable doing extensive work around electrical components, but, you're exactly right. The compressor runs but not the fan. There is power to the motor. Today, by giving the fan a slight push today - off it went - seemed fine - but then I came back about an hour later and the fan had stopped and again the display read "air defrosting". I'm really leery of having the pool company come out (they installed the heater) since some of the work they've done here has not gone well. The local HVAC company does not want to work with pool heaters. I'll see what I hear back from the pool company tomorrow, if anything. I'm really tempted to just buy a new motor and have a local electrician put it in, although from things you've mentioned there could be other issues as well - most of which are a bit beyond my experience of working with.
 
swamprat69 said:
I am assuming that when it tries to heat that the compressor runs but the fan motor doesn't. There could be several causes for this and you would need to be comfortable troubleshooting it electrically with a multimeter. You would need to see if power is getting to the motor from the contactor. You would need to see if the run capacitor is good. You would need to check if there is continuity through the motor windings. You would need to check the motor bearings ( the motor shaft might have some play in/out along the axis of the shaft, but should not have side to side play opposite the axis of the shaft). So it could be a power problem, a capacitor problem or a motor/ bearing problem. Here is the manual for the unit with an exploded parts view and parts list: https://www.bestbuypoolsupply.com/media/aemanual.pdf... I was looking online for parts prices and found that when ordering Jandy O.E.M. parts the prices are ridiculous for some common generic parts. As long as the specs on the motor or capacitor are the same... a motor/capacitor is a motor/capacitor and could be had for 1/4 to 1/3 the price of the Jandy O.E.M. part. A photo of the Tag on the motor would be helpful. As an alternative, you could have an HVAC company troubleshoot the unit to find the exact problem for a basic diagnostic fee and then either have them repair it or do it yourself if you feel comfortable after watching the technician take the unit apart and troubleshoot it. If you go this route, try to get a company that has NATE certified technicians as all HVAC technicians are not created equal (same goes for any household HVAC work). I would be happy to answer any other questions you may have.
Click to expand...

Motor info is: AO Smith 1/2 HP Model F48463D58
 
A photo of the motor tag would be better. It would contain all of the information needed such as rotation, rpm, shaft size, capacitor, orientation etc.. Also when replacing a motor, it needs to be mounted at the same height in the motor cradle with the fan blade at the same height on the motor shaft to move the correct amount of air per factory specs.
 
Just saw your earlier post mentioning the short running time and defrost. When your heat pump is trying to heat the pool it is like an AC system with the cold part having outside air blown over it to evaporate the refrigerant in the outdoor coil. If the fan stops running the outdoor coil will freeze up and the sensors in the system will put it in to defrost mode which will reverse the flow of refrigerant making the outdoor coil the "hot" coil while cutting the power to the fan motor until the sensors tell it that the outdoor coil has defrosted. Since the motor ran when you assisted it, it might be something as simple as a weak capacitor or worn bearings that are not centering the rotor enough for the motor to start. You can check the capacitor with a multimeter that reads microfarads ( mf or uf [ with a long tail on the u]) from Harbor Freight. First disconnect the power to the heat pump and remove the wires from the fan capacitor, remembering which wire went to which post. Set the multimeter to microfarads and put the meter leads on the two capacitor posts. The reading should be within + or - 10% of the capacitor rating on the label. If it is lower, replace the capacitor. You can check the motor bearings somewhat by trying to move fan blade/motor shaft back and forth at 90 degrees to the direction of the motor shaft. If there is noticeable play in the motor shaft you likely have a good amount of bearing wear and will need to replace the motor and capacitor. As before, feel free to ask any more questions you may have.
 
There is vertical motor shaft play, but I didn't notice anything side to side. There is cold air coming through the unit to the outside. Is that what should be happening? I quite honestly don't ever recall that happening before but then typically pay little attention to it. Warm water is coming into the pool, as it should be.
 
anthonypool89 said:
There is cold air coming through the unit to the outside. Is that what should be happening? I quite honestly don't ever recall that happening before but then typically pay little attention to it. Warm water is coming into the pool, as it should be.
Click to expand...

That sounds like normal operation of a heat pump. It captures heat from the surrounding air which cools the air around it and the heat is transferred to the water.
 
Yeah, but the evaporator coil should be drawing warm air in from outside, and then I know the air coming from the fan is usually cold. That doesn't seem to be the case with whatever it's doing now though. There is definitely cold air pushing out through the coil. The temp of the air above the fan is hardly what I'd call cold. As I said, warm water is coming into the pool, but I don't ever recall the outside of the evaporator coil feeling cold and like (cold) air is pushing out rather than being drawn in.
 
It is all relative. It is not like your AC. As the outdoor air temperature cools down there is less heat in the air to extract the heat from. The cooler the outside air is, the less output a heat pump has in BTUs. It seems like the problem you are having is either a weak fan motor capacitor that won't let the fan motor start or causes it to overheat and stop running. It is also possible that either a refrigerant loss or bad metering device is causing the outdoor coil to ice up and put the unit into defrost, but the fact that you were able to get the fan motor to start with a little assist seems to point more towards the capacitor. I would check the capacitor as it is less than a $10 fix.
 
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Swamprat...you nailed it...had the pool tech out here the other day and, yeah, he determined the capacitor is weak - and also suggested getting it recharged with refrigerant, so I guess another call to my local appliance (HVAC) tech to see if they'd be willing to do it. Most of the HVAC people around here don't want to work on pool heaters.

The unit doesn't smell right when it's operating - is that due to the capacitor going bad? Smells like something overheating (likely the fan motor as you said). Just doesn't smell the same (actually I don't recall any sort of odor at all when it's running).
 
Fan motor may be overheating due to weak capacitor. Motor should be ok because it has a temperature sensor in the windings that will open the circuit to the motor if it overheats. May not need recharging as it is a closed system for the refrigerant and would only need recharging if a leak develops and then you would need to repair the leak before recharging. Just replace the capacitor for now and see how it does.
 
I think my local HVAC people would recharge but she asked me what the refrigerant is that's in there. I have no idea. Is there a way to find out? I didn't discuss with the pool company as to whether or not there is a leak but, yeah, it makes sense that these systems shouldn't lose anything unless there is one. I'll check further with the pool company I guess.
 
There should be a label on the unit or inside a door indicating refrigerant and pressures.
 
Just checked with local HVAC- they won't do it. Apparently these guys don't do any work on heat pumps. And yet the pool company is telling me they're not licensed to do refrigerant work on them...yet they sell and install them? Say what? So...where does that leave me?
 
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Swamprat....I emailed the pool company tech that was here a few days ago - see what I hear back. Perhaps your suggestion is best - go with the capacitor fix and see how it operates. Not sure how the guy tested for or diagnosed low refrigerant. Will try to find out more.
 
You don't need to be licensed for refrigerant work to electrically troubleshoot the heat pump. You only need to be licensed if you are accessing/opening the refrigerant part of the system. Without accessing that closed part of the system, I don't see how he can tell you that it needs to be recharged. The pool tech should have checked the capacitor with a multimeter and it needs to be within + or - 10% of the rating on the label in order to be considered good. Here is some info on checking a capacitor and a multimeter to do this (
and DM300 Pocket Sized Digital Multimeter). When checking the capacitor you need to kill all power to the heat pump/pool equipment by turning off all of the pool equipment circuit breakers. The capacitance setting on the multimeter will look like this.... -l(- . You should monitor what the tech is doing when he is checking the system and ask any questions you may have or ask to be shown any readings he is taking i.e. capacitor reading. A 7.5 mf capacitor should read between 6.75 and 8.25 mf to be considered good although most do not read very much higher than 7.5mf.
 
This guy never once even shut off the power to the heat pump while I was with him - though I was not with him the entire time he was here so not sure what he did while I was in the house busy with a few other things. He said an error code that came up on the control panel (while waiting the 5 min. for it to start) is what indicated low refrigerant.

Thanks for the link...I watched it. Most interesting...especially since I know so little about any of this.
 
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