Pump not working on High Speed

[jlthla]

So during a very heavy rain event, the main pump was partially submerged in rain water. It tripped the breaker, and I thought I'd let it dry out, and this morning used compressed air to see if I could dry it more. As soon as I trip the breaker, it runs for a split second, then the breaker trips again. I can water movement in the pool, so that tells me that the actual pump part is working, but the motor isn't.

I have an EasyTouch control system, so know that when the control first turns on the pump, its at high speed, in order to "prime" the pump if necessary. So I told the controller to tun the pump on, the pump breaker tripped, and I just left it there for about 15 minutes, so the controller would switch to Low Speed, which it did, and then I turned the breaker back on, and the pump is running just fine in Low Speed. I'm hoping that running it in low speed with further dry everything out, and I can again run it in high speed.

BUT, assuming that doesn't work, there seems to be 2 items on the motor that could be replaced, one is the capacitor, and one looks like some kind of relay, at the very top of the pump, which was absolutely not under water. Does the capacitor come into play with the pump in slow speed? Is if possible this relay-looking device could have been damaged from other components being under water?

 

[mas985]

It could be the start capacitor or a contact issue for the centrifugal switch in the back of the motor. I would check the contacts first as see if anything is preventing continuity. If that doesn't work, you could try to replace the capacitor.

 

[jlthla]

Thank you for your suggestions.

In the end, all's well. Since the pump was able to run in slow speed, I disconnected the capacitor just to see what would happen, and it would not start up, even in slow speed. So that tells me the capacitor was working just fine. I just let it run on slow for a few hours, and then tried the fast speed, and all is well. I'm SURE this isn't the 1st time it has been partially under water, but the first time I was there to see it happen. Glad I was able to get it working... but in the end, aside from the compressed air, I didn't do much.... : )