| The pump on my Polaris pool cleaner stopped | | | | I got out my voltmeter and started tracing the |
| working. So I did like most pool owners would do | | | | voltage. I had power coming into the box but |
| - call the pool repair people. | | | | none coming out. Upon further checking, I found I |
| Within a few weeks they came out, flipped a few | | | | had power on one side of the on/off switch but |
| switches back and forth (just like I did) and | | | | not on the other. |
| what-do-you-know, the pump started working. | | | | I looked closely and I saw a bunch of dead ants |
| They couldn't explain why it wouldn't work, other | | | | on the switch. I had seen them climb up into the |
| that it was just an old pump on its last legs. And, | | | | controls before but never thought they would be |
| oh yea, you'll be getting an $80 service call for | | | | a problem. |
| the 10 minutes we spent here. | | | | Turns out that enough of them most have got |
| Fast forward another month and the pump | | | | up into the switch and got fried, which in turn |
| stopped working again. I flipped the switches, spun | | | | made them act as an insulator, which kept my |
| the internal pump blade and anything else I could | | | | switch from making contact. I cleaned them out |
| think of - all to no avail. | | | | real good, flipped the pump switch on again, and |
| I got to thinking I could probably replace this | | | | shazam, it worked. |
| pump myself. I could buy it on the Internet for a | | | | So the moral of the story is - if a pump or |
| fraction of the price the pool people would charge. | | | | something doesn't work, don't assume the pump |
| Then I would just have to disconnect 3 wires | | | | (or whatever) is bad. Work the problem back until |
| (and a ground) and 2 hoses and then re-connect | | | | you are at the root of the problem. |
| them. If I ran into a problem, I am sure one of | | | | In this case I should have started with the |
| my friends could help. | | | | voltmeter and made sure I had power to the |
| So that is what I did. I found a good deal on the | | | | pump before I did anything else. This would have |
| internet (not only were they the cheapest, but | | | | saved myself a few hundred dollars and would |
| they had free shipping), ordered it, received it | | | | have given me a working pool much sooner. |
| within about a week and I was ready to go. | | | | I can take pride in the fact that I did change |
| (They even sent along new hosing and | | | | things myself and that I now have a backup |
| connectors, which they never said anything | | | | pump if I ever need one. However, what I am |
| about.) Now all I had to do was carefully | | | | curious about though is if I would have called the |
| disconnect things and re-connect them just as | | | | pool repair people and let them do the work for |
| they were. Since the pump looked identical it | | | | me, would they have been honest with me and |
| shouldn't be a problem. | | | | told me that the switch was dirty, or, would they |
| As it turned out, it wasn't a problem. Everything | | | | have put on a new pump, charged me |
| went pretty smoothly and everything was back | | | | exorbitantly and never mentioned the fact that |
| together in relatively no time at all. | | | | the real problem was in the switch. |
| The moment of truth - would it work? I flipped | | | | I guess I will never know. |
| the switch on and nothing happened. It was acting | | | | So, learn from my mistakes and check things out |
| just as the old pump was acting. I was sure that I | | | | before jumping to conclusions. |
| wired it correctly so it had to be something else. | | | | |