Your swimming pool heat pump is not running and you are frustrated. It could be bran-new or it has been in your back yard for the last 15 years. Either way, it is something you don’t want to deal with as swimming pool heat pumps are supposed to help to enjoy the swimming season and to help you relax and not cause you to stress by not doing their job. I took a call this week from a man who bought a new heat pump to replace a 17 years old one that finally wore out. His new heat pump was not starting and the digital control was blank with no display. He said he had power and that made me scratch my head as it is so rare to have power and not have some kind of reading on the thermostat display. Finally, his electrician found that his electrical disconnect was bad and only feeding 120 volts to the heat pump instead of 240 volts. Once that was fixed the heat pump started right up and did the job that it was made to do. I find that a high percentage of service calls are not related to the heat pump itself. Many calls are due to lack of water flow. I have seen dirty pool filters shutting down pool heat pumps, and even if the filter is clean the cartridge filter was so old that restricted water flow so that the water pressure switch in the pool heat pump wouldn’t activate. Then there are bypass ball, gate and 3-way valves in the wrong position causing the misdirection of water flow. Also, I have seen all the water valves in the right position but they have failed internally so you can’t tell easily that they are the problem causing low or no flow. Then there are people who were trying to save money while being green by buying an expensive variable speed water pump. Nobody told them that when it is on low speed it sometimes isn’t enough flow to run the heat pump. Sometimes when all looks good it is the basket on the filter pump that is full or more sneaky yet the basket is empty but the impeller is clogged with pine needles or some other organic material. Sometimes the unit is fine and is just off on the 5-minute start delay. They have no patience and keep resetting the 5 minutes by shutting off the power or playing with the thermostat and then after a 1/2 hour decide the heat pump is junk and call to complain. Having a troubleshooting owners manual handly is always a good idea. Something happened today that is relevant. I was swimming in a freezing 20 X 40 no heater pool in the shade during a 3-week heatwave with temperatures every day over 35C or 95F when the owner asked me if I could to change an outside light. I love electrical challenges so I changed the light fixture by the pool and an hour later the owner complained the light was on constantly now and not coming on at dusk with the timer like all the others by the pool are supposed to do. He suggested that I wired it wrong. I knew it was not on after I wired it so I was a bit confused. At first, I thought I might be slipping and not still the same guy who wired and piped 100 tons of air conditioning on a commercial building that all started and ran the first time without any changes. I went out to the light to check the wiring. It did look like it was on. I was about to take it apart when I saw that the sun had set a bit and the sunlight was perfectly coming through a gap between the roof drain and the wall focusing the sun rays on the fixture making it look on. So the strangest things sometimes happen that have no relation to the object that you think failed. Think out of the box. Most swimming pool heat pumps are pretty reliable. If you get in a jam e-mail or text me and I will try to help out.
I am on your side. Have a great swimming season.
Best,
Marcus
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