Intelliflo Power Failure

[df.pa.2112]

Another year, another surprise.

Decided to open the pool early this year to give me some time to work on lights and maybe fashion a swim jet in the pool.

Opened over the week and got the pump running 2 days ago for a bit. The DE filter was leaking so I only ran the pump for an hour or so. Yesterday fixed the seal and got it tightened up and added a few gallons of chlorine turned the pump on to run for a few hours to circulate the water, filter and then test the chemistry etc. Pool was clearing nicely.

Pump is a Pentair Intelliflo, unknown age. After about 3 or 4 hours I noticed the pump wasn't running so I went to take a look. Pump looked fine externally. Breaker not tripped. I cycled the power an nothing. When going to look at the pump directly again after cycling the breaker and GFI. The display at first was blank. I moved the conduit going in to the pump just to get a look and the digital display on the control said power failure!. It was getting late so I shut everything down, turned off the breakers and pulled the cover to the block this AM.

Here is a pic of the block...No bueno!


We did have a surge here during a storm a few days ago and the power cycled a number of times, wiped out some stuff at the neighbors hours. but the pump ran just fine for several hours? I did get several "unexplained" shut downs last year early on but during the last several months of the season everything ran flawlessly.

I could have also been something that caused the pump to overwork but I would have thought that would have tripped the fancy breaker that Pentair requires for these. Everything else in the system looks fine. The breaker and wiring at the panel looks great. The heater wiring and control looks just fine.

Wondering if I should try to remove the fried block, run new wire, wire nut the leads and see if the thing will run?

Hopefully it didn't fry the motor but I am not terribly optimistic on that one.

Any thoughts on a reasonable way to proceed would be much appreciated...

Dennis

 

[ajw22]

That melted connector block and wiring happened from a long term problem not a surge. Loose wires and corrosion cause increased resistance in an electrical circuit and that causes heat that can melt stuff. The amperage is still under the CB rating so it does not trip.

Electrical contacts must always be kept tight and corrosion free to be low resistance. Especially high voltage connections.

You can try connecting it up. But that area needs to be watertight and weatherproof to last.

 

[Jimrahbe]

Dennis,

If this were my pump, I would replace the whip between your EasyTouch or circuit breaker panel and clean up the blackened connector.. Then I'd see if the pump runs or not.. My guess is it will. If the pump runs then I'd see if I could get a new terminal block and install it.

If the pump did not run, I would have a new IntelliFlo on my porch the next day.

The "fancy" breaker just makes sure that too much current does not get the pump. This appears to me to be caused by a poor connection to the terminal block.. Over time it corroded, which caused the resistance of the connection to increase. Basically making the connection a little heater that just got hotter and hotter until the wire burned in half.

Thanks,

Jim R.

 

[df.pa.2112]

One additional bit.

The label on the pump above calls for #8 wire and the installer used #12. Not sure if that would be a factor? They redid the plumbing and installed the new smart panel last summer.

 

[ajw22]

12 gauge wire is fine for a 20 amp circuit.

8 gauge wire is for a 40 amp circuit

 

[df.pa.2112]

Thanks for all of the helpful info!!

So the white corrosion on the top wasn't likely a result of a short term overheat?

The gasket on the cover and the seal to the wiring are all in good shape? Ino sure how to seal that any better. No leaks in the area that I recall either. The wire was new when installed. It's sort of a rhetorical question but I wonder why that would have corroded? I just want to make sure there isn't anything I should redo or do to prevent this from happening again...

 

[ajw22]

You can see the dirt in the box and corrosion around the ground terminal.

You can also see the pump motor having a round spot of corrosion under the box.

You can do periodic cleaning and visual inspection of equipment and connections to catch problems earlier.

 

[df.pa.2112]

Was able to pull the block a part and cleaned as much of the brittle fried plastic as I could. The block was really fried.

Trimmed back the wires and cleaned the terminals the best I could and flipped the breaker.

At lease the pump still works. I let it go full steam at 3450rpm for about 10 minutes. No problems. Everything else in the system seemed fine as well? I took a pic with the thermal camera at the end of the 10 minute run and the region on the block behind the terminal is hotter but still only got to 117F. Nothing that would vaporize for sure. I will say that the condition if the terminal block or what is left of it is "less than ideal" But at least I know the pump behind seems fine.

I'll cut the terminal block and wire nut the leads directly. I'll see if I can get a new block and leads from Pentair. I am looking but just not seeing anything that is a leak. I also ordered some high temp terminal grease to coat them to hopefully protect a bit. I have been thinking of a small enclosure for the equipment, guess I have a good reason to do that....





Again, thx for the help! I'll post if I can get any parts and the replacement..

 

[mknauss]

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[df.pa.2112]

I opened up the case where the board and controller are. The wires are connected with blade connectors (like anderson power pole connectors). However most of the control board is potted to the bottom of the case and the wires run through the epoxy. Keeps that all sealed up well.

I opted to just cut the terminal block off and wire nut the two leads.

Ran it a 3150rpm for about a half hour. Nice and cool....see the IR pic.

I'll coat them with the contact grease when it arrive and seal it up good. Hopefully this stands up better..finger crossed.





Thanks for everything, will certainly make a donation here shortly.

Dennis