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I am thinking my capacitor may be bad on my Pentair Dynamo. I cut on the pump and hear a humming noise. I took the pump off and the impeller is spinning just fine. Looking for some suggestions and maybe a video how to replace a capacitor for Dynamo pumps. Also how do you open get into the inside of the pump?
Thanks
Electric pumps and motors are not my area of expertise, but If I understand capacitors correctly, they are used to jump start the motor from a stop, because it take a bigger jolt of electricity to start a motor, especially with a load on it. Once the motor is running, it settles down and runs on a lower amperage. Sooooo, If your motor starts, I'm not sure you have a bad capacitor. My very limited experience says capacitors either work or they don't. I have seen (heard) motor capacitors hum very loud, but they won't start the motor.
Does your motor "Drag" and take a few extra seconds to finally come up to speed, or does it start right up?
Hope this helps. BTG
The capacitor in an induction motor is used to shift the starter winding current by 90 degrees so the motor will spin up from a dead stop. Without a capacitor or if it is bad, the motor will just sit there and hum. To replace it, you can remove the back cover but I wouldn't suggest doing this unless you are familiar with working on motors and electricity.
Thanks Mark, After thinking about this overnight, I came to realize that the windings in the motor makes the Humming noise not the capacitor, and your post verified that for me.
I think it is time for Dirtboy6 to take this motor in for a check up. It is probably doing what my last pump motor did, which is drawing way more amps than it should. I ended up buying a new pump and motor.
Rick
I am an Electrician. I came home one day and turned my motor on. It was making the same noise. I took out my voltage tester and I wasn't getting the correct voltage off the capacitor. I took it down to the pool shop and they just told me I needed another $400 motor. I wasn't able to do that again (would have been my second one in a year), so I took the capacitor out and went down to the electronic warehouse. $30 later it was fixed. It would be worth a shot just to try it. Also, if your motor is or is able to draw more amps then it should, I would take a look at the breaker that is supplying the circuits.
Chris
Chris;
Couple questions.... how do you know what the correct voltage should be off the capacitor? And whats the proper (or good enough) way to discharge the capacitor. I heard short it with a screwdriver (!) or use a voltmeter. I assume I would set the voltmeter to read AC?
TIA
Kevin
I would not test the capacitor on a live circuit. Here is a much safer way to test a motor capacitor:
http://www.ehow.com/how_6185394_test...ultimeter.html
Good link, thanks.