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Most Common Pool Pump Problems

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Whether its the beginning, mid or end of the swimming pool season your pool pump could wind up having some mechanic problems that could prevent you from using the pools filter system. Most Common Pool Pump ProblemsBut most of the time the pump will stop working and can be generally fixed within a few hours or days. Sometimes you can even get away with repairing your pool pump yourself if you are mechanically inclined and also know what is wrong with the pump.

Below you will find some of the most common problems that will occur with your in ground or above ground swimming pool pump and some solutions and troubleshooting tips that may help you get your pump going again in no time.

Always be sure to shut off and unplug your swimming pool pump before working on it. Also, If you are not handy and still have no idea what you are doing, you could always bring your pump to a local pump shop and have it repaired by a professional.

Pool Pump Does Not Have Full Prime

If your pool pump is not priming all the way this could mean you either have an air leak on the suction side of the pump, to low of a water level in the pool or possibly something could be jammed inside the pump impeller. The first thing you will want to do is check the water level in the pool to make sure that it is at least “mid skimmer” which means the water level will be at least up to the middle of the skimmer.

Next you will want to check the pump fittings, gaskets and o-rings to see if they are loose, broken or worn. Things like a flattened o-ring inside of a suction union will cause the pump to suck air. Make sure all the o-rings and gaskets are in good shape.

Once you have checked the pool water level and the gaskets, you also will want to make sure that the pumps impeller is not clogged or jammed with debris. You can do so by opening up the pump strainer cover while the pump is off. Once you have the pump strainer cover off feel the eye of the impeller with your finger and see if you can feel if its free and cleared or gobbed up with junk.

Pool Pump Making A Humming Sound

If your pool pump is making a humming sound it could mean one of three different things. If the capacitor is bad in your pumps motor it will cause the pump to hum in some cases. Always check your pumps capacitor when or if you hear a humming noise. The second reason your pool pump could be a making a humming sound is because the pumps motor windings that are inside of the motor could have got really wet from the rain water or something leaking on the filter system. Let the pump dry out for a while and then try plugging it in again. The last thing that could be causing your pump to make a humming sound is that the motor armature inside of the pool pumps motor could be frozen and stuck. This sometimes happens if the pump has sat for a while with out running. Take a small hammer and tap the motor housing a few times and then try replugging the motor in, sometimes the tap of the hammer on the motors casing will knock the surface rust free inside and then the pumps armature will free up.

Pool Pump Is Blowing The Circuit Breaker

If your pool pump is blowing the circuit breaker then chances are there is something really wrong with the pumps motor. The best thing to do is to bring it down to an electric motor repair shop or you can replace the motor with a new one and reuse the wet end of the pump. Be sure that nothing is jamming the pumps impeller and also make sure the pump has not been sitting in a puddle of water. Sometimes when pool pumps sit in a puddle of water for a while especially after a hard rain, they can get soaked and this will cause the circuit breaker to blow. Usually letting the pump dry out for a day or two and then replugging it bag in will do the trick if the problem was indeed that the motor windings were soaked with water.

Pool Pump Will Not Prime AT All

If your pool pump will not prime there are a few things that you will want to check for. The first thing you will want to do is to make sure that the pump basket in front of the pump has been filled with water before you turn the pump on for the first time of the season. The next thing you should check for is to see if the pump has any loose drain plugs, fittings or o-rings. Once you checked all of those you should check the skimmers. Sometimes the winter plugs are still in the skimmers or the skimmer baskets have become to full of debris and the pump cannot draw in enough water.

Pool Pump Is Sucking Air

Most of the time your pool pump will start to suck air from a bad gasket or o-ring. The first thing to always check when your pump starts sucking air is the strainer cover gasket and then also the o-ring that is inside the union on the front or otherwise known as the suction side of the pump. Once you have checked the o-rings and the gaskets you will next want to check the drain plugs on the bottom of the pump. Pumps like a Hayward Super Pump have a drain plug on the front and the side of the pump. If this plugs loosen up a bit from vibration they can allow air to be sucked into the impeller. If you find a leaking drain plug, remove it, re Teflon tape it and replace it. If you find a bad or flattened o-ring you should also replace it.

If you have any questions or need additional help please feel free to leave your questions below.

24 Comments

  1. I have a pool pump strainer cover that is stuck and I can’t get it off without potentially breaking the cover, which of course is plastic.
    It is the old style that screws directly in to the enclosure. Got any tricks that might work for me? thanks

  2. Pool pump comes on for about 5 seconds then goes off, it does pump for the 5 seconds, nor does it trip the breaker or gfci, when I flip the switch off the motor clicks then when I flip the switch back on it runs for 5 seconds then stops

  3. I have a pool pump that is only 3months old. I know I wasnt suppose to but I ran it on a heavy duty extention cord for about a month before I could get the electric installed. I didnt have any problems with it. I had the electric ran to the pump by an electrician it ran great for the first 3 days. I turned the pump off and left it off for 2days and when I went to turn it on it made a humming sound and wasnt working. I had to wait until the next day to call the pool installers but before I did I went and tried the pump again and it started to work. What happen? Could it have something to do with the electric that was ran to the pool? I am scared to run the pump now. Is my pump going bad? Help!

  4. My pool is sucking water into the filter making a noise. it seems to be working ok except it never made this noise last year. Do you know what could be making it suck this hard. You can’t hardly pull the basket out to empty without turning off the pump.It sucks so hard it won’t let go of it.

    • Hi Linda,

      You are supposed to turn the pump off to empty the pump basket or you will lose the prime on the pump. If it is the skimmer basket you are referring to, if the basket is loaded with debris, you should turn the pump off also before pulling the basket out.

      Rick

  5. I have an 11 month old pentair pump i went to my easy touch panel to turn on the waterfall and the pump would not turn on i checked the breakers to see if they were tripped and they weren’t any idea of what is wrong.
    Thanks

  6. My summer wave swimming pool was working fine with the Sfx 1000 pump . We unplugged it to cut the grass and it stormed causing the cord to get soaked in water , now that it’s sunny and dry out I plugged the pump back up and I will not work , the tester button does not click there is no sign of power . Has anyone experienced this problem

        • I had the same problem, you have to take the plug apart. When it gets wet, water gets in the GFCI plug and will not work. I used alcohol and/or and air compressor to dry the internals out. Put the plug back together and it’ll start back up.

  7. It’s nice to know that the pool pump can generally be fixed within a few hours or days if it stops working. I imagine that understanding what to do for these five situations will help you save money. It’s pretty easy to jump the gun when things are broken. Though I do think that if you’re not comfortable checking your pump then it’s probably better to call a professional for help.

  8. I am having trouble with my summer waves point but it doesnt see, to have enough pressure to be able to hook vacuum to the pump, we have an extension cord buried and running to it could the extension cord be wrong, it was new but it not like a heavy duty cord could it not be suppling enough power to pump the pressure needed, or could,it be something else

  9. I just changed the shaft seal, and everything went ok. Pump has been running fine for a week now, and it just shut off by it’s self. I still have power to the outlet, so that is not the problem. Any ideas?

    • Being as late as it was last night, I couldn’t take the pump cover off. The insulated power wire had broke off. Easy fix.

  10. Suction strainer basket keeps losing full level in suction reservoir CD it be top cover on suction pot O ring when fter is running I only have 5psi on filter usually runs at 8 to 10 psi.

  11. My plug is humming and nothing is working? Pool has had no issues. When we turned it on for normal cycle it just wouldn’t start!

  12. I turned my pool on this morning to run it and I put some algae stuff in it and some shock .I turned it on at 7 well my husband started mowing around 3 and he unplugged it now it wont come back on .can you give me a idea what ig might be ? I’m in desperate help , Thank Ypu

  13. Good morning! I’ve got a question. My pool pump is a Harris model 72748 1 1/2hp in ground pool pump. When I turn power on, the motor and pump run and water starts to “slowly” enter the strainer area until enough water fills the strainer (approx. 2 min.) and presure starts to build up. Once the presure builds up and water starts flowing to the filter, the motor starts surging (ON & OFF with clicking noise like a relay opening and closing) this will happen for about 3 minutes and then pump/motor shuts down. With power still on and after approx. four minutes the pump/motor starts operating, pumping water and surging as before. It will repeat this process until you shut all power down. The motor does not seem to get “HOT”. I also bypassed the sand filter to make sure I had not blockage in the filter. Still surging in this config.
    Pump motor and pump seem to run fine and does not surge when no water loads are not applied.

    ANY SUGGESTIONS ?

  14. My Pool Pump Circuit Breaker in the separate box out by the Pool trips after it rains and runs fine after a couple of hours of sunshine. I keep the entire box containing the breakers and the pool light switch and an outlet in the box covered by a garbage pail turned upside down and placed over it which also covers the outlet the pool pump is plugged into mounted to the post the entire box is mounted on. The outlet has a cover as well. Do you know the things I could check which may be causing this problem?

    Thanks – Bob Conroy

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