Hello,
I woke up yesterday with our Hayward SP3400 pump stopped with the dreaded "Drive ERROR! Pump has stalled" on the screen.
I have spent the better part of the day reading and rereading all the troubleshooting guides on this forum from past years along with reading about all the horrors of the drive failing at a remarkable pace. This pump came with our house and we have no records of when it was installed or if the warranty would even transfer from Hayward. Best we can tell is it's between 2 and 3 years old, but the motor assembly looks way older. I've ran through all the troubleshooting tips and everything checked out until I ran the continuity test on the motor leads and got 0.42 ohms from the leads. This is very close to the 0.5 - 1.0 ohm range suggested, but makes me think we may have a blown motor. When you send power to the unit the drive engages the motor in which it gives brief shutter and "whir" sound before displaying the fault (maybe a 10th of a turn on the motor at best). I've hand spun the motor by hand, but can't tell whether it was really all that hard to turn or not (admittedly I'm not sure how much general resistance there should be with spinning the motor by hand). It wasn't a smooth turn but it didn't feel seized like a heat pump fan motor that's gone bad (my only other comparison).
We liked the performance this pump gave us over the last 18 months, but I don't know if we should just leave Hayward behind completely and get a completely new pump, or go about replacing the motor and hope that we don't suffer a drive failure in the coming years. I'm completely open to suggestions including getting a comparable pump to the Hayward SP3400VSP which is the basis for the thread title. What should I consider replacing in your opinion(s). I'd rather not spend $500 now and be out another $500 later if this is a typically faulty system but I'm definitely not an expert. There is no automation as I just run it on an in-use filtration schedule during spring and early fall, and a not in-use filtration schedule over winter the past 2 years, but I like the variability in adjusting the desired RPM's for the motor rather than having set pump speeds to go through/chose from.
1. From my description above do you think the motor is bad? Should I replace the motor with this one or one like it from somewhere else and assume/hope the drive won't fail down the line? Amazon.com : Hayward SPX3400Z1ECM 2.7-Horsepower Motor Assembly Replacement for Hayward SP3400VSP Series Pump : Swimming Pool And Spa Supplies : Garden & Outdoor
2. Should I just go about replacing the whole unit with something else entirely as if it is the motor then the drive could/will also fail in the near future? The local pool places all recommended the STA-RITE Intellipro VSF as a replacement to the SP3400. But they all want $1500+ installation for them and that's just not a cost I'm really interested in dealing with unless I'm fairly sure I can get more than just 4 or so years of use out of it.
I'm open to suggestions and insights as I've noticed there are people in here that are very knowledgeable and in reading through all the pump specs and such. I don't need more bang than the SP3400 is capable of, but maybe something that is more energy efficient and longer lasting. Just in my brief research into pool pumps there's so many extra things regarding flow and pressure rates and such that I'm not really trying to get into with this replacement situation if I can help it.
Thanks for any insight or suggestions.
I woke up yesterday with our Hayward SP3400 pump stopped with the dreaded "Drive ERROR! Pump has stalled" on the screen.
I have spent the better part of the day reading and rereading all the troubleshooting guides on this forum from past years along with reading about all the horrors of the drive failing at a remarkable pace. This pump came with our house and we have no records of when it was installed or if the warranty would even transfer from Hayward. Best we can tell is it's between 2 and 3 years old, but the motor assembly looks way older. I've ran through all the troubleshooting tips and everything checked out until I ran the continuity test on the motor leads and got 0.42 ohms from the leads. This is very close to the 0.5 - 1.0 ohm range suggested, but makes me think we may have a blown motor. When you send power to the unit the drive engages the motor in which it gives brief shutter and "whir" sound before displaying the fault (maybe a 10th of a turn on the motor at best). I've hand spun the motor by hand, but can't tell whether it was really all that hard to turn or not (admittedly I'm not sure how much general resistance there should be with spinning the motor by hand). It wasn't a smooth turn but it didn't feel seized like a heat pump fan motor that's gone bad (my only other comparison).
We liked the performance this pump gave us over the last 18 months, but I don't know if we should just leave Hayward behind completely and get a completely new pump, or go about replacing the motor and hope that we don't suffer a drive failure in the coming years. I'm completely open to suggestions including getting a comparable pump to the Hayward SP3400VSP which is the basis for the thread title. What should I consider replacing in your opinion(s). I'd rather not spend $500 now and be out another $500 later if this is a typically faulty system but I'm definitely not an expert. There is no automation as I just run it on an in-use filtration schedule during spring and early fall, and a not in-use filtration schedule over winter the past 2 years, but I like the variability in adjusting the desired RPM's for the motor rather than having set pump speeds to go through/chose from.
1. From my description above do you think the motor is bad? Should I replace the motor with this one or one like it from somewhere else and assume/hope the drive won't fail down the line? Amazon.com : Hayward SPX3400Z1ECM 2.7-Horsepower Motor Assembly Replacement for Hayward SP3400VSP Series Pump : Swimming Pool And Spa Supplies : Garden & Outdoor
2. Should I just go about replacing the whole unit with something else entirely as if it is the motor then the drive could/will also fail in the near future? The local pool places all recommended the STA-RITE Intellipro VSF as a replacement to the SP3400. But they all want $1500+ installation for them and that's just not a cost I'm really interested in dealing with unless I'm fairly sure I can get more than just 4 or so years of use out of it.
I'm open to suggestions and insights as I've noticed there are people in here that are very knowledgeable and in reading through all the pump specs and such. I don't need more bang than the SP3400 is capable of, but maybe something that is more energy efficient and longer lasting. Just in my brief research into pool pumps there's so many extra things regarding flow and pressure rates and such that I'm not really trying to get into with this replacement situation if I can help it.
Thanks for any insight or suggestions.
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