I think my pump might be dead......

[farmgirl]

Hey! Thank you guys so much for the input! I think the pump is OK so far, but come closing time, will ask DH to check the brushes, and we will replace them if necessary. I knew nothing about that! Fortunately, we may be closing as late as November or perhaps even December this year. Heat pump due to be delivered later this week....YAY! I swam 1/2 mile tonight after work in 66 degree water, and it was actually refreshing! Would like to start swimming earlier in the year though. Thanks again for all the help.

[Poconos]

This has been mentioned somewhere before. There are no brushes in AC pump motors. The starter switch contacts can get dirty or crudded for a variety of reasons and normally all they need is a cleaning with fine sandpaper or preferrably a thin, flat file. Sandpaper can leave a gritty residue on the contact surface but usually is not an issue. I know some if not most contacts are made of silver which is soft. Silver is also a very good conductor and being soft it tends to 'form' to an irregular surface that results from slight arcing and pitting, thus extending the time between cleaning. Motors with brushes are AC/DC types and are typically used in devices like hair dryers, electric drills, vacuum cleaners including shop vacs, blenders and similar applications where high speed rotation, above 3450 RPM, and/or simple and cheap variable speed control is required. Going back to pump motors, the switch is usually designed so the centrifugal weight mechanism on the rotor does not even contact the switch once operating speed is reached, thus no wear.
Al
Edit: The oxidation mentioned above can be true for brushed motors. The brushes are a carbon material and the commutator, on the rotor, is copper which is easily oxidized and copper oxide is a lousy conductor of elextricity.

[matt4x4]

Thanks for the insight Poconos - I'm used to dealing with DC motors, so brushes are what I'm used to, either way, it's a dirty contact related issue, not a worn out scenario.
What I find works well for cleaning any type of contact is a variety of erasers.
If you're dealing with circuit board contacts such as PC cards, the red type of eraser found on the end of a pencil is best, it's not too abbarsive, buff the part after erasing with a cloth to remove the rubbery film it it leaves behind. For contacts that can take a bit more "abuse", the blue gritty ink erasers work really well, they're like a fine sandpaper. What's nice is erasers don't take off a whole lot of the coating, just enough to get things like new again without reducing the lifespan of the part significantly.

[Poconos]

The eraser trick works well for card edge connectors but the switch contacts are too close together. I posted a pic in the thread I referenced earlier in post #5 of this thread. Back end of a Hayward pump motor. A cheap set of jewlers files will work fine. Otherwise some 400 grit wet-or-dry sandpaper, available at auto stores, works well. Again, you don't need to grind any material off. Cut a strip of sandpaper, double it up as in double-sided, and pull it through a couple times with slight pressure on the contacts, and that should fix it.
Al