With the beginning of winter I now always ensure that I have disconnected my water pumps and drained the water. My carport pump (moves 2,400 storage gals) started fine, but my 1hp Water Ace (moves 2,800 storage gals) just made a humming sound when I tried pumping today. Another challenge!
Probably bad brushes I thought but usually there is warning – a lot of spluttering and starting in fits. Not this time and why should it fail to start after the winter break? I moved it to the workshop and removed the front end where the centrifugal impeller is – it turned with difficulty.
Odd, I thought something must be jammed. While it was open I removed some small stones caught in the slits. So what could it be? I happened to look at the rear end and the cover was not seated properly. Beneath the cover is the fan which is also driven by the motor.
Now, with the cover removed, the impeller and the fan (they are connected to the same drive shaft) turned easily. I carefully replaced the fan cover and the front end cover and the pump started fine and pumped without leaking. All done!
To remove the bolts I looked for my battery powered screwdriver, could not find it and so used my drill at lowest speed and torque setting. Mistake! Even at the lowest settings it is too fast and too powerful. I more determinedly looked for the powered screwdriver, found it and then removing the remaining bolts and re-assembly was fine. Moral – don’t rush.
My seedlings are progressing well – below is a snap of some of my tomatoes in 2″ soil blocks in the greenhouse.
