Intermatic (or Dayton ?) timer not turning on

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C

Caro67

Member
Jul 9, 2019
11
Darnestown, MD
Hello,
I'm trying to troubleshoot my timer. It does turn the pump off, but not on. It was working a few weeks ago :( . I changed the trippers, no luck. I bought another set of trippers, still the same.
The pump turns on with the by pass and all the gears are turning (and as I said the "off" trippers work well).
Any idea what that could be ?

Here's a picture of the timer's information. I think it's the same as the Intermatic T104R ?

1599248852718.png
 
Can you post a picture of the mechanism, showing the trippers? Maybe that will give us a clue. I haven't had one of these for a while, but it's possible the on tripper is not quite engaging the on-off lever, but the off tripper does. Can you get a camera angle on the on tripper moved such that is is very close to the lever?
 
I would try this. Turn off the breaker that feeds the timer, as you'll be poking around inside it. Turn off the breaker that feeds the timer, as you'll be poking around inside it. (Yes, I wrote that twice!!)

Remove all but one off tripper. Loosen it just enough so it can slide around the yellow wheel. Turn the silver lever to the on position. Then slide the off tripper all the way around the yellow wheel. At one point around the wheel, it should run into a lever. That was so you can get a feel for what we're testing. Now take the off tripper off, and put one of the on trippers on the wheel, just loose enough to slide. Turn the silver lever to the off position, and slide the on tripper all the way around. If it never catches on anything, then something behind the yellow wheel (or the wheel itself) is bent out of position. If you can see what that is, and can bend it back where it should be, then that might solve it.

Mind you, I've never done that, and haven't looked inside one of those things for a while, so I'm kinda describing how I think that all might work. I'm guessing one too many pushes on the silver on-off lever, working it from on to off and back, has bent that back a bit, and it just needs to be pulled back into position carefully with a pair of pliers.

I do see what looks to be a little corrosion on the on-off lever. How old is this thing? It's also possible the lever that the on trippers engage pooped out and snapped off.

Or wait a few and see if someone else here has a better idea...
 
Last edited:
Thanks, I'm going to try what you suggested, hopefully I'll find something ! No worries, I'm going to turn off the breaker ! We're closing the pool in about a month, so if I can't find what is wrong, I'll ask my pool guy to have a look as well :)

I'm not sure how old this is, we bought the house 3 years ago and all the pool equipment (and the pool!) were built/installed by the previous owners. If this is the original timer, they built the pool in 1994 I think, so could be that old (if they never had to change it).
 
That sounds about right. Those things are pretty rugged, but maybe someone was honkin' on the manual switch at some point. Hopefully it'll be a simple fix. They're pretty cheap to replace if not.
 
So I turned the breaker off (😃). I did everything you mentioned, so I could "feel" what's happening with the "off" tripper, then did the same with the "on" one. They both felt the same and get caught on the thing (sorry I don't know the parts names) behind, so I still don't understand why the "on" is not turning it on 🤔

I'll continue to investigate, and will ask my pool guy next month if I haven't found the issue. I can turn it on manually since I'm home all day so it's not a big deal (just annoying).

Thank you for the help !
 
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If you can’t figure it out, the whole inside mechanism can be easily replaced for $50. You’ll need to do some basic electrical work. If you replace it make sure to understand how the wiring is setup and TURN OFF THE BREAKER.
 

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Caro67 said:
So I turned the breaker off (😃). I did everything you mentioned, so I could "feel" what's happening with the "off" tripper, then did the same with the "on" one. They both felt the same and get caught on the thing (sorry I don't know the parts names) behind, so I still don't understand why the "on" is not turning it on 🤔

I'll continue to investigate, and will ask my pool guy next month if I haven't found the issue. I can turn it on manually since I'm home all day so it's not a big deal (just annoying).

Thank you for the help !
Click to expand...
Well, you gave it a shot. Sorry, that's all I can think of...
 
The same thing happened to one of my intermatics earlier in the year. (7 yrs old). I bought a new timer and just replaced the mechanism. Took bout 15 minutes total. I never could figure out why the old one would not turn on though. :scratch::scratch::scratch:
 
yeah, I think this is what's going to happen, I'm getting too frustrated to try to figure out what is wrong. I usually prefer to fix things rather that buying new/replacing, but I don't want to spend hours troubleshooting if replacing it is cheap and easy 😂
 
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