I have a Hot Springs spa with a Watkins Wavemaster 7000 pump. I went to turn on the jets and the motor hummed loudly. After a few attempts I popped the circuit breaker. Has anyone else had this problem? If so what was the fix? Also I have been trying to find detailed information on this pump but have had no luck. I would like to have an exploded view to work from.

Is this brand new or is this a problem that just started? If it is a problem that just started then I would begin by disconnecting the black wire going into the pump and see if I could get one speed of the pump to operate...this will help to determine if the circuit board or the pump has gone bad. Likely scenario is that the pump motor has finally gone bad and may need to be replaced

The tub is a 96 model. I did a little more investigating since the original post. If I power the pump it hums as I described. I can then manually spin it a little and it will take off running as it should. I then stop it and it will not start again unless I manually spin it first to get it started.

I am now leaning toward the capacitor being bad. The way I understand it is the the purpose for this capacitor is to give the pump an initial jolt to get it started. Without it the pump does not have the inertia to start the pump spinning but once it is spinning it will work fine.

I don't know if this is correct or not but I feel that the capacitor would be a quick and cheaper fix than replacing the whole motor.

Anyone have some thoughts on this?

you are correct, it is called the "Start Capacitor" and that is it's purpose in life, sometimes you can find a replacement for the capacitor however it is reccomended that you buy a new motor complete.

The start capacitor fixed the humming problem! I now have a new problem though. While troubleshooting the problem I took the wet end of the pump apart thinking it had siezed up. I put it back together and now I have a leak at the rear end. I can not figure out how to get this apart to see what is leaking though. Does anyone know how the pump housing comes off the motor?

Any and all help has been and will be very appreciated.

/Phil

babo4:

Where did you find a replacement capacitor? I'm having a similar problem with a wavemaster 5000.

I found a capacitor at Alphatronics. It is an electronics store that has circuit board level components. Make sure the capacitor is the correct rating or it will blow. I had trouble with that. The cap is only about $7.00 so it didn't break the bank. Take your old one with you and they can match it up for you.[/list]