The pump is dead, long live the pump!

The pool pump motor died this morning so we need to replace it. This is the second time it melted the wiring. The first time two years ago hubby fixed it. This time he replaced the wiring again, but the motor is gone. I found a site that has reasonable prices, but not sure which is better Pentair Optiflo or Sta-Rite. The one that died was a sta-rite waterford. We want to keep the filter, there's nothing wrong with that. We thought of just changing out the motor, but there isn't much price diff to replace the whole pump and I want to get a dual speed motor. Also, I'm not sure about compatibility with our current pump system (basket) if we just replace the motor. Any input on brands, even if it's not one of the above, as far as quality or advice in general? I don't want to spend more than $300 on this and of course less would be better.

Thanks in advance :)

I'm no electrician, but it seems odd to me that your wiring melted. Somethings not right about that. I'm going to ask Poconos to take a look at your post and see if he has any words of wisdom for you.

I do think you can go with a smaller pump, though. For a 16K pool, 1-1/2 hp is more than you need. I have a 13K AG pool and I have a 1/2hp full-rated inground pump and it is plenty big enough for my pool.

1 1/2 hp is what came with the pool. We're looking at going to a dual speed, then we would only use the higher hp for vacuuming. I'm loathe to go smaller since they gave us a filter that is sized for 1 1/2, and we aren't replacing the filter. Hubby thinks it overheated and that finished it off. Apparently it was groaning and didn't rev up at first when turned on yesterday. It was 105 today in the shade, so the heat probably helped. It might also be a glitch with this pump. I was reading posts on google from more than one person who had the same problem of fried wires with this particular model. One guys pump only lasted two years before it fried, so I guess we're lucky we got 5 out of it.

Got a question...what wiring is melting? Sounds like the line going to the pump and not the pump windings themselves because you said hubby fixed it the first time and I doubt he rewound the motor. If that is the case, something is really wrong, like way undersized wire. As Watermom said the pump is way too big for that pool and you don't mention what size filter you have. Pool stores typically want to sell big pumps and small filters which is the opposite of what you need. Could be a small filter is just making the pump work harder. What was your pressure gauge reading when the system was working? That's also an important piece of info. If the pressure was high that means increased current draw and if you do have undersized wiring then the voltage at the pump is low and that would increase the heating of the motor. That's why some motors heat up and die in prolonged brownout situations. I still suspect way undersized feed wire.
Let's see where we go from here.
Al
Edit: Just re-read the posts...saw your signature. Don't know about that particular filter but from the diameter looks like a 200 pound filter. Too small for that pump but shouldn't be causing this kind of a problem.

Filter is a Sta-Rite 21" 200# sand filter. According to the owner's manual it is sized for the 1 1/2 hp pump. The wires at the end are what melted. He took the end of the motor casing off and it's the wires exposed there. Again, I've read several posts online about this particular pump model having a meltdown with those wires burning out, so it could be a manufacturing defect. I don't know; kind of a moot point though because even after rewiring it's still dead as a doornail, and even if he could've got it running again, we were going to replace it. Hubby was just trying to revive it long enough to give us shopping time for a new pump. Unfortunately, with the heat and no pump, we don't have time to do too much shopping around and need to get something running again ASAP. If we really could go with a smaller pump that would be super, since I'm guessing a 1 hp pump might use less energy. It sounds like given our filter going to a 1 hp would be a better idea? Thanks in advance.