Pump overheating

[Dustoff]

I had a 6 year old Hayward Super Pump that would occasionally trip the circuit breaker, after a while it started overheating and eventually stopped working altogether. I replaced the pump motor with a new one and it started to do the same thing. It would overheat and shut down after 5 minutes. Someone told me to replace the circuit breaker and that did the trick. Circuit breakers do go bad. If you try this yourself, shut off the power to the box prior to replacing your breaker.

[graystone]

Concerns Hayward Super Pump 3/4 hp, 115ac, in-ground, 10K gal. My problem has similar aspects of several other in this thread, but deviates enough that the various solutions do not apply. I had a water leak, replaced the seals & impeller, and leak stopped, but after 15 mins the motor cycled on & off continuously. Unit is about 10-12 years old, runs quiet; no problems until the leak. Impeller was the original composite material, so had to order replacement because material couldn't survive removal -- installed upgrade that had metal threads for motor shaft -- parts from Hayward dealer. While awaiting parts, installed my backup Hayward Power-Flo LX, 1.5 hp, to keep water under control; I know, that's an above-ground unit. My sand-filter is properly sized for 1.5 hp, 1.5 in. piping, with only drawback is it being gravity fed, so startup is slower, but pumps well, and fills in as backup. It runs perfectly; I say that to answer the replies that hint at wiring, breakers, clogs, etc, that might be the problem. This problem concerns only the Super Pump motor!

While replacing the impeller, my grandson (17) broke one of the wires from the capacitor to the switch between the capacitor and the 110/220v selector module. The switch connector has tiny crimps that could not be reattached, thus I soldered on a jumper wire <right gauge, solid copper> and spliced with solder-seal to the wire lead off the capacitor. While switch was removed, separated to see if interior connection was severed and it looked ok. On putting all back together for test run, the components did as designed: on/off switch kicked in for start (then released), motor functioned quietly, and pump housing primed as well as ever and pumped as expected. I viewed all that while pump motor end-cover was still off, and let run for at least 30-mins to see if cycle on/off recurred. It didn't, and pump runs perfectly with end-cover off the motor.

The problem: When the end-cover is put back on the motor, either fully or partially, the motor runs for as little as 3-5 minutes, and then shuts off. Remove the end-cover, wait about 2-secs, turn the switch on, and it starts running again (thus, does not appear to be component heat related) and will run properly until shut down either manually or with the timer. The motor no longer cycles on/off, it just shuts off after about 3-5 minutes. Remove the end-cover, and it has no problems at all, at least for the 1-hr session where I just sat by it to ensure that I didn't miss anything.

I thought it might be the capacitor, and since a new one was only $4.71, I replaced it. Rechecked the solder connections, and tried it again. Same thing, with end-cover off it runs perfectly, but put the end-cover back on, and it shuts off after 3-5 minutes, but comes right back on after waiting about 2 secs., and if end-cover is removed again, it runs perfectly with no shut off.

Lastly, the problem cannot be the motor windings or other related power generation components because it runs perfectly with the end-cap off. I was intrigued by the earlier poster who enlarged the point separation on the start-switch, but I observed mine closely and it separates after start back, then back to the same separated condition; that doesn't seem to be an issue.

I'm wondering if the 3-positon switch between the capacitor and the 110/220 volt component is somehow the problem. I say that because it does get warm to the touch, but not hot or uncomfortable, and that doesn't seem reasonable. The interior connects to the cover shell via a tiny threaded screw, and I'm now wondering if that can be too tight or too loose, because the threaded portion has a wide range of travel but no markings for what's too much or too little. I considered that maybe that switch was inadvertently reversed and was sending 220 to the capacitor vice 110, but if that were the case, then it's not reasonable that the motor would continue to function normally when the end-cover is off of the motor.

Lastly, there are no components touching the interior of the end-cover, and I even loosely just fitted it back onto the motor so that nothing could possibly be touching anything, and it still shut-off after about 3-5 minutes just as before. Even if anything were touching, there must be an immediate short that flips the break.

Help!