Post-hurricaine pump woes

[ericafrancesca]

Hi smart pool people,
We're in North Georgia and made it through huriccaine Heleane without too much damage...however the day after the hurricaine our pool pump stopped working. It's a Hayward Tristar Maxrate SP3215X20. It was also super hot to the touch, despite not moving any water.
We called the company who installed the pool (we weren't the owners when it was installed back in 2022), anyway they sent a guy out and he said our capacitor was broken. They ordered the part, came back, installed the new capacitor. Well...ever since they put in the new capacitor the pump moves water very slowly. Not much suction of water through the skimmers, not much water moving over the waterfall. I'd say 50% of what the prior flow rate was. The pressure gague on the filter looks okay, 20psi which is normal for us. Should I be concerned? It's not a variable speed pump from what I understand.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Did your pool run low on water or below the level of the skimmer? It might have overheated if so due to sucking air. It may have also ingested something that is stuck in the impeller. You can turn the breaker off and remove the pump basket. Then reach into the hole to the impeller and see if it rotates easily. Check for any objects that might be stuck in the hollows of the impeller. Otherwise, it just might be at the end of it's life though that is odd since it's only two years old. In that case you would see great benefits by moving to a variable speed pump. It would save you money at full speed and because you could run it at low speed and still make chlorine, it will save you even more money, and it's very quiet.