Pool Pump Capacitor Explosion Help

[carlyai]

19 hours ago, CrunchWrapSupreme said:

Those cheap Chinese capacitors have been the death of many electronics for the past 20 or so years. You can find older electronics without this issue.

 

Back when I was doing computer repairs, people came in with their dead machines, bulging capacitors on the motherboard, on which MADE IN CHINA was proudly displayed. Wasn't such a problem with Made in Taiwan in years prior. Then later, even the iMac I bought myself was recalled for this very issue.

 

Few more years later, everyone's shiny new LCD TV they just had for a few years started going out. Friends were telling me, hey man, could you come take a look at it? There were those capacitors again. Sometimes changing just the capacitor did the trick, while others, saving pennies on that part had wasted their several hundred dollar machine.

 

Then finally, about 5 years ago, was the "hoverboard" craze that started burning down people's houses. People were leaving them plugged in to charge, and you guessed it, a cheap capacitor had failed to regulate the voltage.

 

About 30 years ago I had a part time TV repair business and never saw a failed capacitor, mainly power transistors or zener diodes. Before that I worked with real-time security processors and never had a capacitor problem. (Lots of IC problems, probably from static electricity).

It's a bit of a problem now with these pump capacitors, I'm not the only pump owner with this problem. But there again, the pump start capacitors are under a fair bit of stress when the pump starts. I have (just changed it back to 3/3 hour runs) had my pump set to start 3 times a day for 2 hr intervals due to all the burnt sugar cane debris floating down from the sky. Added to those 3 starts, the phase has been going high and my over-voltage sensor has been shutting down the pump fairly regularly. The phase went low, then they must have fixed it and it went high, now back to normal.

 

[carlyai]

I think I've found a contactor/ overload. S-T10 20A contactor and TH -T18 (7 to 11 A) overload.

 

Bit confusing but I think a MSO-T10 is the contactor plus delay or 'owerlod' as it says in Thai.

So will order the MSO-T10 from Lazada Thursday if I don't hear any nah sayers here. ????

[carlyai]

On 4/2/2020 at 10:09 AM, carlyai said:

I think I've found a contactor/ overload. S-T10 20A contactor and TH -T18 (7 to 11 A) overload.

 

Bit confusing but I think a MSO-T10 is the contactor plus delay or 'owerlod' as it says in Thai.

So will order the MSO-T10 from Lazada Thursday if I don't hear any nah sayers here. ????

Ordered via Lazada. 

[RichCor]

Is the contactor going your power panel or in the pump enclosure alongside the start capacitor?

 

I'm worried you're not replacing the thermal cutoff device directly monitoring the pump housing (even this safety measure normally only triggers when the pump runs for too long or is run without adequate water flow to assist in cooling it).

[carlyai]

14 hours ago, RichCor said:

Is the contactor going your power panel or in the pump enclosure alongside the start capacitor?

 

I'm worried you're not replacing the thermal cutoff device directly monitoring the pump housing (even this safety measure normally only triggers when the pump runs for too long or is run without adequate water flow to assist in cooling it).

Good thought. I'm still going to try and get another temp. overload but don't seem to be able to source one in Thailand and Astral Australia haven't responded. 

The control box is about 1 m away from the pump housing. 

I tried to test the device in-circuit with a heatgun but that didn't seem to work. I can only get about 8 A boiling a pot of water, so testing it with that isn't going to work. I can get about 18A from my instant hotwater heater, but my body shape and age makes crawling in under sink cupboards undesirable.

 

 

[RichCor]

Have you tried contacting the Astral Thailand distributor? They may be able to point you to a local resource for repair parts [re: Thermal Overload Protector; Thermal cut-off] 

 

FLUIDRA Thailand

110/4 Moo 13 Rachathewa Bangplee
Samutprakarn 10540 THAILAND
Tel: +66 2738 9420-3
www.fluidra.co.th
e-mail: [email protected]

 

(Pattaya Swimming Pools) Rick Gards Construction Co. Ltd. 65/38-39 Thepprasit Road, Soi 7 Nongprue, Banglamung Chon Buri  20150

Phone: 088-199-1998 E-mail:  [email protected]

 

The Pool Masters Store – Pattaya

13/6 Moo 11, Mueang Pattaya, Bang Lamung District, Chon Buri, 20150

Located on Sukhumvit Road, just past the Ford garage, next door to the Caltex petrol station

Tel: 0984-633-870

 

The Pool Masters Head Office – Surin

75 Moo 7, Tambon Nok Mueang, Mueang, Surin, 32000

Located just past the 7-Eleven & Otteri, next door to PL Mansion ATM Machines

 Tel: 044-511-331

[Fruit Trader]

On 4/2/2020 at 7:16 AM, carlyai said:

Dear Fruit Trader, I found an old thread where you provided ExAPert advice on my Contactor and Thermal overload. 

The short story was that I bought a 2 HP pump box completely wired with contactor and overload. Seems the 2 HP box was not for a 2 HP motor as the contactor and overload were the incorrect values.

You would choose a thermal overload where the center of the range is around the full load current of your pump motor. The TH-T18 (7 to 11 A) already mentioned is a good choice.

 

As most overloads are designed for 3 phase detection it is important to wire them correctly when used on single phase to avoid imbalance detection.

 

 

 

Personally I would not worry much about the pumps built in protection if overload protection back at the control panel is sized and set correctly.

 

 

[Metropolitian]

On 4/2/2020 at 7:43 AM, carlyai said:

About 30 years ago I had a part time TV repair business and never saw a failed capacitor

I bet my bottom baht some of those same caps are now leaky or shifted in capacitance at most. ????

 

OT.

I was thinking about this case, and especially on why has the capacitor blown.

It could have taken the thermal swich with it in its demise. Or the thermal switch was failing first (arcing?) before taking the cap into its doom.

Hard to tell which one be marked as the first cause.

Have you checked the motor itself? Are the winding all ok? Resistance equally? 

It's a single phase but possible inside splitted into brances, if so then you need one failing to make problems (fase shifting within milliseconds) and the caps will budge heavily under this.

Like pedaling a bike with one leg, or with a partly faulty commutaor/stator biking with a broken leg in cast.

 

Try the new thermal switch and the cap.. If the problem is gone, great. If it goes boom again.. Check the actual motor.