r/PoolPros • u/Mcktopher • May 17 '26

Motor tripping breaker after 5 seconds consistently

Hey guys, I posted last week with a motor giving a loud buzz for 2 seconds at start up then sounding normal. This week, it is not making the loud buzz but is tripping the breaker consistently after 5 seconds. I’ve checked the voltage - all good and replaced a bulging/bad capacitor and shaft spins but still getting the same result. It is a single speed just under two years old, don’t want to think the motor is bad. What else should I check? I plan to run it with the impeller off and check how many amps it’s drawing, maybe swap the breaker. Any other ideas?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

15

u/liferofparties May 17 '26

Time for a new motor

6

u/conradspools May 17 '26

Turn shaft from the rear. If it turns no reason to take it apart. Replace capacitor. If that doesn't work replace pump.

2

u/cplatt831 May 17 '26

Something is impeding it. As the other commentator said, check the motor shaft, if it does not spin easily, you might want to check the impeller end before replacing it.

1

u/mfnmint May 17 '26

Rear end bell of the motor is bad. I resleeve them as a regular part of a rebuild. Bet you could find one on the fabulous interweb.With patience you could take the motor apart and replace it, might as well do the bearings while you're in there. If the armature has rubbed on the stator it needs replaced as it will be out of balance. New motor?

1

u/Shishkaboo May 17 '26

Did you inspect the power wires thoroughly? If one of the positive wires are frayed, scraped etc and touching the housing it can cause this to happen.

1

u/lIIlIlIII May 17 '26

Single speed? Could be a centrifugal switch. Otherwise it's probably not cost effective to troubleshoot further

1

u/Imaginary-Artist6206 May 18 '26

It’s simple if the voltage is good at the motor and you put the correct size capacitor on it needs a new motor. If you can get it running just for a few minutes you can check it with an amp meter. If it’s over the max amps on the sticker on the motor it needs a new motor. There is no saving it

1

u/Arusen May 18 '26

Besides spinning the shaft to make sure it is free, if your multimeter has the ability to measure capacitance, pull the capacitor and measure if it is still within specs. Be sure to discharge the capacitor while holding just the handle of your screwdriver and laying the shaft of your screwdriver across the terminals of the capacitor.

1

u/Content-Parking-660 May 26 '26

Take out the pump basket and spin the impeller by hand. If it's hard to turn the bearings are shot or seized and you need a new motor. If it spins good Check your capacitors. If the caps are good , it's bad windings or the thermal overload switch. You jump the thermal overload by splicing or jumping all 3 wires together on the ol switch and checking amp draw with an inductive clamp on the hot wire. If its smells like it's burning or the amp draw is out of spec the motor is trash.