So I go out on a rather warm January day the other day and notice the pump is not running. It says Drive error- pump has stalled. I check the skimmer and a huge batch of leaves got into the skimmer basket, no idea where they came from, it is January and no trees are on our property. So I imagine the pump was denied water and ran almost dry even though there was water in the pump basket but was about half full. I do have a drain at the bottom that feeds into it but I have my valve turned to it only draws about 20% from there.
Question is, what is likely the culprit of the problem. The drive or the motor. It will turn on and try to start 3 times then give that error. It sounds like a car alternator it turns over then dies, turns over then dies then give the error. I reached my hand in and the impeller spins freely. It was purchased in 2012, installed late that year, but not used until 2013 season so it is still well past the 3 year warranty. I have reached out to Hayward to see if they could help out in any way but am not expecting any help since it is so far out and I have no way of proving those times other than the day I purchased it.
So my question is what should be my next step? I am assuming the motor is fried but is there steps to take to test this? If I can get out by spending less than $300-$400 which is what I am seeing new motors on ebay going for I will go that route. I would hate to have to get a new pump because although I technically do not need the variable speed I do like the programmability of it. This is also the 2nd time the pump has messed up. It had the drive replaced after about 1 year of service already by Hayward. I have the salt water cell with the control panel so if I went with another company I would need to replace all of that I imagine.
On top of all that our robot we paid $800 for had the wheel fall off. It was a Polaris so that is going to have to be replaced also. I really don't think I want to go the robot route again though. I did pipe in a dedicated line for future use just in case this happened though which is good. I didn't expect 4 years down the road I would be shelling out possibly $1500 on equipment failures but I guess it comes with the territory.
Thanks
Question is, what is likely the culprit of the problem. The drive or the motor. It will turn on and try to start 3 times then give that error. It sounds like a car alternator it turns over then dies, turns over then dies then give the error. I reached my hand in and the impeller spins freely. It was purchased in 2012, installed late that year, but not used until 2013 season so it is still well past the 3 year warranty. I have reached out to Hayward to see if they could help out in any way but am not expecting any help since it is so far out and I have no way of proving those times other than the day I purchased it.
So my question is what should be my next step? I am assuming the motor is fried but is there steps to take to test this? If I can get out by spending less than $300-$400 which is what I am seeing new motors on ebay going for I will go that route. I would hate to have to get a new pump because although I technically do not need the variable speed I do like the programmability of it. This is also the 2nd time the pump has messed up. It had the drive replaced after about 1 year of service already by Hayward. I have the salt water cell with the control panel so if I went with another company I would need to replace all of that I imagine.
On top of all that our robot we paid $800 for had the wheel fall off. It was a Polaris so that is going to have to be replaced also. I really don't think I want to go the robot route again though. I did pipe in a dedicated line for future use just in case this happened though which is good. I didn't expect 4 years down the road I would be shelling out possibly $1500 on equipment failures but I guess it comes with the territory.
Thanks