Pump Motor Spade Reversal..UHOH

[simsjim]

I just had an interesting experience installing and testing a WhisperFlo WFE-3 115/230 single speed pump.

I wired the pump to a 120v dedicated circuit with its own breaker using 12 gauge solid core outdoor Romex. I had the pump motor's power spades in the "LOW VOLTAGE" configuration according to the schematic on the pump motor.

After turning the power to the circuit back on, I turned on the pump expecting to hear nice quiet motor and see some pressure in my filter pressure gauge, BUT what I got was loud, smelly, slightly SMOKING motor, and NO pressure. I quickly turned off the Intermatic timer that controls the pump about 25 seconds after I turned it on, and then killed the power to the circuit.

As a troubleshooting step, I reversed the motor power connection spades to the "High Voltage" configuration on the schematic. I turned on the power. Now, nice quiet motor, good pressure (about 10 psi in the Taglius Sand Filter) and good water flow. BUT the thermal protector cuts the motor off after about 30-45 minutes; it resets after about 20 minutes and turns the pump back on. Very ODD.

I am certain the power circuit feeding the pump is 120v because that was the same circuit I used to power the Hayward SuperPump I am replacing. I even went as far as hooking up the pump to another 120v circuit (controlled by a separate breaker) to see if there were issues with the circuit, but the pump behaved in same manner on a different circuit.

I contacted the supply house where I purchased the pump. They said there could be 'shellac on the coils' causing the inoperable low voltage setting. Hmmmmmm…..

Any thoughts about this? Has anyone ever seen anything like this? So the SMOKING MOTOR is an obvious red flag, but I am curious about why it would work in High Voltage. If “The Shellac Hypothesis” is true, wouldn’t the motor behave in the same manner (smoking, etc) regardless of voltage settings?

I would love to get some feedback on this puzzling behavior.

Thanks J

Some other pool stats
12K gal IG vinyl
1.5” pvc plumbing
Suction – 2 skimmers and main drain
Pressure – 2 outlets
Equip Pad approx 30 feet (uphill) from pool
WhisperFlo ¾ hp EE Single Speed pump
Taglius SD60, 325# Sand Filter
Hayward CL220 Off Line Chlorinator

[cleancloths]

Sounds more likely that the scematic is reversed and that you initially hooked it up to the 220V input which caused the motor to partially melt or burn the windings. Now you are correctly hooked to the 110V but the motor windings are damaged which is causing the extra heat and the shutdown and restart issues.

[Poconos]

I've been scratching my head on this one too and I would agree if J put 240 on a 120 configuration. However he says he hooked it to a known 120V circuit and I don't see how that could cause something to smoke. If you put 120 on a 240 config then the motor will come up to speed but as soon as it sees a load it will slow dramatically and probably the starter circuit will kick in again. The shellac mentioned only makes sense if somehow the wires were not scraped and cleaned properly when the terminal assembly was made. That could cause a high resistance joint that would heat and smoke when current was drawn. If 240 was somehow applied to a 120V configuration then yes, the windings would heat up and it would make a heck of a noise before the smoke. Then, if windings got shorted it wouldn't take 35 minutes to trip. You would know of a shorted winding within seconds.
I'll be curious to hear the final outcome and if I get any more ideas I'll certainly post.
Al
Something else...What is your pressure? Is it possible the pressure is way too high and that's overloading the motor?

[simsjim]

Thanks for the input folks

Poconos - I never achieved pressure in the "low-voltage' setting (with smoking motor, etc.) But in the high-voltage setting, I achieve a pressure of of about 8 psi on the Sand Filter, which to me seems quite normal, if not a bit low. But again, I think with sand filters the lower pressure may be better for cleaning.

That said - looking at another post about a Whisperflo, I was wondering if my White and Black lines coming from the breaker were hooked up to the wrong terminals on the pump motor. My reversal of these had no affect on the above behavior.

I have packed up the pump and shipped it back to the distributor who is sending a new one.

So, when the new pump arrives
my configuration plan is:

Circuit to Terminal hookups:
White to L1
Black to L2

Spade Hookups:
White to A
Brown to B

What do you think?

BTW - another test of the circuit with a multi-meter revealed a voltage of 123v. I seriously doubt the extra three volts fried my motor, but that could also be that meter needs to be calibrated.

Thanks again for the insights. I learn so much here. Pls lemme know if the wiring schematic above is correct.

I'll keep you posted.

[cruzmisl]

Hmm, I have the exact same motor in my garage waiting to be hooked up. Did you original schematic look like this??

[cleancloths]

The voltage is not an issue. Household A/C power is nominally 110-130 volts. The average is 120, but on days when they have brownouts it can dip to 110 and during low demand on cold days I have seen it as high as 130V. The higher the voltage the cooler the motor will run, if it drops too low you can have problems.

The motor terminal block looks very strange. Most I have seen have you connect 120V to one set of connectors and 220V to another set, to use the same connectors does not seem right.

[haze_1956]

The motor terminal block looks very strange. Most I have seen have you connect 120V to one set of connectors and 220V to another set, to use the same connectors does not seem right.

The wiring hook ups are different for each voltage according to the diagram, same line connections but the spade terminal connections change.

If it is a dedicated circuit, I would change it to 220 and save on the electric bill.

-

[simsjim]

Thanks for the replies -

cruzmisl - that is the same schematic. Wouldn’t it be a mess if the there was a slip-up in pre-production proofing of the sticker print job, and the information printed was false? ....We'd have to investigate a Lot# or Production run # to see if indeed there was a run of stickers pasted to pumps with the wrong info. Anyone with an older pump can check their schematic against the one posted in your reply. Any takers?

haze_1956- great idea, I really wanted to do that, but my breaker box is maxxed now. I WONDER.....If I have an electrician come out over next winter to perform a box expansion to give me some open slots AND run a 220 line to the pump...could I switch the pump to 220 after a season of using it on 110? Waddya think?

I am still waiting for my replacement pump - it should arrive today. I'll hook it up and give everyone an update.

Thanks again, and keep the info coming. I really appreciate it!

James

[haze_1956]

could I switch the pump to 220 after a season of using it on 110? Waddya think?

James

I've swictched my radial arm saw from 220 to 110 and back again, several times.

Depending on the type of circuit breakers you have, you may be able to change some breakers and free up a slot. There are a lot of multi-circuit breaker combos.

Changing the wire should not be necessary if only the 220 pump is on the circuit.

.