Why Pool Pumps Fail in the Mesa Summer, and What to Do Before August

Every August the calls come in: the pump is humming, screaming, leaking or silent. Mesa summers kill pumps in four predictable ways, and three of them give warning first.

The four failures

1. Bearings. A high whine or grinding that gets louder over weeks. The motor is running hot and dry. It will seize; replace the motor or the pump before it does.
2. Capacitor. The pump hums but will not start, then starts after a push. Cheap part, quick fix, but running it that way burns the motor.
3. Shaft seal. Water dripping from under the motor. Left alone it corrodes the bearings and you are back to failure one.
4. Starvation. A full skimmer basket, a clogged pump basket or a dirty filter makes the pump cavitate and overheat. This one is free to prevent: empty the baskets and clean the filter.

Why Mesa is harder on pumps

East Mesa pools sit closer to open desert, so dust and debris reach the pump more often. Pumps on pads in full afternoon sun run far above their rated temperature, and single-speed pumps running eight hours at full tilt in July simply wear faster.

When a variable-speed pump pays for itself

A variable-speed pump runs most of the day at low speed, uses a fraction of the electricity and runs cooler and quieter. On a pool with a single-speed pump running long hours, the power savings usually cover the upgrade in two to three summers. We quote installs in writing after a look at the pad.

Diagnostic service call $85 to $125, then a written quote you approve before work. See pool pump repair and replacement in Mesa and Gilbert and weekly pool service in Mesa.