Mike57
DIY
- Reaction score
- 18
Need some help please. Got a brain teaser for my first post. My pool pump motor cratered over 4th of July. It was working fine and started to sound like it had gravel in it. I turned it off at the timer to backwash and the breaker tripped. She was locked up. Since it was 8 years old I took it to a local motor repair shop to be rebuilt. After 5 days with no word I called. It was ready to go. They swapped the pump over to the new baldor 1hp single phase motor. The connection box on the side had a dozen different colored wires sticking out. The first two motors I replaced only had two terminals so I asked which wires to use. The shop owner connected it to a test bench at 240 volts and said use the blue and yellow wires, that brown was ground. I asked for a schematic or diagram but he didn’t have one.
Took it home mounted it, plumbed it and connected to timer. Started, ran great while I primed the pump. Filled with water, turned motor on, ran a few seconds and lost prime. Repeated a couple of times thinking just air in lines after sitting 5 days. After a few tries, motor began surging alternating between slow spin humming to normal rpm’s. I switched it off and rechecked connections. Voltmeter on timer terminals showed only 120 volts and it bit me. Took some insulated pliers and flipped switch off. Checked breakers, which aren’t GFI, and one was tripped. I turned them off and reset them. Turned pump on and did it again.
I wired it up exactly as the old one other than nutting line side to blue/yellow wires instead of sticking them in a terminal and tightening them down. I flipped it off instantly and rechecked everything. Note: the brown wire (ground?) was on the green screw on the motor case. When I bought the house in 1994 it’s was already wired. 10/2 with ground out to pump. Motor was only 6 amps at 240v but was close to 150 feet from main panel.
Now it gets interesting. I could smell something getting hot. I ran back to the panel in the garage and one side had tripped again and I turned remaining breaker off. Now, I noticed it was a 30 amp breaker. It’s what I call a slim line. Like 4 breakers in the space of two. 1 and 4 were the pool and 2 and 3 ganged together for the gate opener motor at the end of the drive way. Tracing everything back to the source eliminating all connections along the way I decided the breaker was bad. Okay off to the supply house. They didn’t have gfi’s like that so I got the same style figuring to do the GFI’s once I got it going. Plugged back in, wired it up and got to questioning my grounds. The $125 motor was a good match except all the lead wires.
Should I run the ground from the motor case up to the timer switch ground terminal and tie to the line ground? And as for bonding all metal with a bare solid wire, is that acceptable 10 feet away from pool? What do I connect it to and how? To the neutral? At this point I’m debating adding a sub panel I can put a GFI in and buying an entire new “pool” pump and motor assembly. If I do all that I’ll hire an qualified electrician to help me.
What does the group think? Can I salvage it or rip it all out, drop some serious cash and put it all back in new? Sorry for the long read and I appreciate any suggestions. BTW the frogs and algae are enjoying the 20,000 gallons of dark green nasty water.
Took it home mounted it, plumbed it and connected to timer. Started, ran great while I primed the pump. Filled with water, turned motor on, ran a few seconds and lost prime. Repeated a couple of times thinking just air in lines after sitting 5 days. After a few tries, motor began surging alternating between slow spin humming to normal rpm’s. I switched it off and rechecked connections. Voltmeter on timer terminals showed only 120 volts and it bit me. Took some insulated pliers and flipped switch off. Checked breakers, which aren’t GFI, and one was tripped. I turned them off and reset them. Turned pump on and did it again.
I wired it up exactly as the old one other than nutting line side to blue/yellow wires instead of sticking them in a terminal and tightening them down. I flipped it off instantly and rechecked everything. Note: the brown wire (ground?) was on the green screw on the motor case. When I bought the house in 1994 it’s was already wired. 10/2 with ground out to pump. Motor was only 6 amps at 240v but was close to 150 feet from main panel.
Now it gets interesting. I could smell something getting hot. I ran back to the panel in the garage and one side had tripped again and I turned remaining breaker off. Now, I noticed it was a 30 amp breaker. It’s what I call a slim line. Like 4 breakers in the space of two. 1 and 4 were the pool and 2 and 3 ganged together for the gate opener motor at the end of the drive way. Tracing everything back to the source eliminating all connections along the way I decided the breaker was bad. Okay off to the supply house. They didn’t have gfi’s like that so I got the same style figuring to do the GFI’s once I got it going. Plugged back in, wired it up and got to questioning my grounds. The $125 motor was a good match except all the lead wires.
Should I run the ground from the motor case up to the timer switch ground terminal and tie to the line ground? And as for bonding all metal with a bare solid wire, is that acceptable 10 feet away from pool? What do I connect it to and how? To the neutral? At this point I’m debating adding a sub panel I can put a GFI in and buying an entire new “pool” pump and motor assembly. If I do all that I’ll hire an qualified electrician to help me.
What does the group think? Can I salvage it or rip it all out, drop some serious cash and put it all back in new? Sorry for the long read and I appreciate any suggestions. BTW the frogs and algae are enjoying the 20,000 gallons of dark green nasty water.
