Crepe Myrtle Issues

[digitalshooter]

I am the President of a Condo association, don't have a pool personally. Our pool guy told us that the pump burned out due to the Crepe Myrtle trees located around the pool.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with this since this is the first time this has happened and the complex is 10 years old? Also could it be as simple as changing the skimmer basket to one that filters better?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[PoolDoc]

Ah, "crepe myrtles". Or, as I think it should be spelled, "crap myrtles". Those are some of the nastiest trees you can place around a pool -- they dump trash in the pool about 280 days out of 365. No pool guy with any sense want's 'crap myrtles' near a pool he maintains! Those nasty things are a serious error in pool landscaping, right up there with cottonwoods, river birch and black walnuts!

But, pumps don't burn out because of trash in the pool. They don't even burn out because of trash in the pump.

Plus the term "burn out", applied to pumps by pool guys, does not have any specific meaning. I've seen it used to refer to:
1. pump seal failure.
2. actually smoking the pump's windings (most modern pumps motors have thermal breakers that prevent this)
3. bearing failure (can occur if the seal fails and the pump is allowed to leak onto the motor for an extended period)
4. other stuff . . .

So the answer to your implied question, "Did the 'crap myrtles' directly cause the pump to fail?" is "Probably not.". But it's *possible* that the increased maintenance needs 'crap myrtles' create were not met, and the subsequent maintenance failures lead to pump failure. Or, not.

Pump failure, on a 10 year old commercial pool, is not anything unusual. Pumps can last longer than that, but often don't.