Hello, my pump is only maybe 2 years old, and it's been fine until recently. Here's the chain of events.
A few months ago, I removed a pool mesh fence I've had for years, because we don't need it anymore. An unforeseen consequence is that more debris blows into the pool now.
I have been neglecting changing out the basket filter next to the pump more than I should have. With the increased debris, this neglect was as more serious matter than usual. One day I noticed the water pressure coming out of the jets was remarkably low. At first I thought: I need to backwash. I did so, and even during the backwashing the pressure was low.
My next thought was: the sand in my sand filter is 5 years old, so I'm due to change it out. I figured it was old sand. My local pool store (Leslie's Pool Supply) agreed, and said the sand was definitely the problem. So they sold me 300 pounds of sand, and I changed out my sand (doing the work myself).
Then I go to open the lid over the basket filter to prime the pump (since opening up the sand filter drained a lot of water out), and behold: I see what was really causing my water pressure problem: The basket filter was densely filled with a thick layer of debris. It was so thick that pressure had built up inside it, and put a big crack down the whole length of that basket filter.
So I went and bought myself a new $15 basket filter, installed it, and noticed the pump won't spin at all. So I got out my wrench and disengaged the motor from the housing holding the basket filter, and got a look at the impeller. Stuffed in the hub was lots of leaves and other debris that must have entered through the breach in my basket filter. So I cleaned that out, and the pump worked fine.
The next day I noticed the breaker was tripped. When I reset it, and started it up, I saw a leak from my sand filter, spilling on top of my booster pump. So my guess was that the water maybe was shorting a circuit. After getting bad advice from Leslie's Pool Supply as to what was causing the leak, I figured out with the help of a different store (Warehouse Pool Supply) that it was a bad O-ring in the top of my sand filter. So I replaced that, and started up the pump. No leaking at all now... the O-ring was doing it's job perfectly.
The next day, I noticed the breaker was tripped. So I guess it's not a water leak causing this problem. So I disengaged the moter again, and this time I sprayed a hard spray of water from my garden hose to make sure I got all the debris out. I found just a small bit to remove, and then it looked to me spic and span clean, and the motor worked fine again.
But it still trips the breaker. I'm not sure how long it runs, but it must be hours long before it trips the breaker. The only idea I can think of is, maybe I should remove the impeller from the shaft and see if maybe there's debris behind the impeller? That space back there is so cramped, I just wonder if that's even my problem, or if debris can get back there.
I just keep thinking debris, because this all started happening when my basket filter broke, and debris got in the impeller, so it makes me think there's a connection with that. Does anybody have any other ideas of things I should check for?
A few months ago, I removed a pool mesh fence I've had for years, because we don't need it anymore. An unforeseen consequence is that more debris blows into the pool now.
I have been neglecting changing out the basket filter next to the pump more than I should have. With the increased debris, this neglect was as more serious matter than usual. One day I noticed the water pressure coming out of the jets was remarkably low. At first I thought: I need to backwash. I did so, and even during the backwashing the pressure was low.
My next thought was: the sand in my sand filter is 5 years old, so I'm due to change it out. I figured it was old sand. My local pool store (Leslie's Pool Supply) agreed, and said the sand was definitely the problem. So they sold me 300 pounds of sand, and I changed out my sand (doing the work myself).
Then I go to open the lid over the basket filter to prime the pump (since opening up the sand filter drained a lot of water out), and behold: I see what was really causing my water pressure problem: The basket filter was densely filled with a thick layer of debris. It was so thick that pressure had built up inside it, and put a big crack down the whole length of that basket filter.
So I went and bought myself a new $15 basket filter, installed it, and noticed the pump won't spin at all. So I got out my wrench and disengaged the motor from the housing holding the basket filter, and got a look at the impeller. Stuffed in the hub was lots of leaves and other debris that must have entered through the breach in my basket filter. So I cleaned that out, and the pump worked fine.
The next day I noticed the breaker was tripped. When I reset it, and started it up, I saw a leak from my sand filter, spilling on top of my booster pump. So my guess was that the water maybe was shorting a circuit. After getting bad advice from Leslie's Pool Supply as to what was causing the leak, I figured out with the help of a different store (Warehouse Pool Supply) that it was a bad O-ring in the top of my sand filter. So I replaced that, and started up the pump. No leaking at all now... the O-ring was doing it's job perfectly.
The next day, I noticed the breaker was tripped. So I guess it's not a water leak causing this problem. So I disengaged the moter again, and this time I sprayed a hard spray of water from my garden hose to make sure I got all the debris out. I found just a small bit to remove, and then it looked to me spic and span clean, and the motor worked fine again.
But it still trips the breaker. I'm not sure how long it runs, but it must be hours long before it trips the breaker. The only idea I can think of is, maybe I should remove the impeller from the shaft and see if maybe there's debris behind the impeller? That space back there is so cramped, I just wonder if that's even my problem, or if debris can get back there.
I just keep thinking debris, because this all started happening when my basket filter broke, and debris got in the impeller, so it makes me think there's a connection with that. Does anybody have any other ideas of things I should check for?