Archive for the ‘Home’ Category

Pool Buddy

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Pool Snake, originally uploaded by trekr.

A keen eye reveals a surprising guest. Pool’s Open! Last one in is a …

Honey, please check my wiring!

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Pump motor, originally uploaded by trekr.

The old pool pump motor gave up last week. I would’ve loved to have the local pool company fix it, but they wanted to redo the entire pool. I’m exaggerating, but only slightly. So I decided to fix it myself.

Well, not exactly by myself. I had some help from my wife the electrical engineer, and my brother who has touched every piece of industrial air handling equipment ever made in the last two decades. All I needed was a little more knowledge to get the parts.

A few Google searches later, and I’ve figured out the difference between a square and a C frame, a threaded vs. keyed shaft, high and low voltage motors, and how to match the impeller to the motor horsepower. I placed an order online and viola! Two days later, Brown delivers me a Chinese made fractional motor at a fractional price. We’re off. Initially, I wired it up incorrectly, but a quick call to my brother and some QA from my wife and we are pumping !

No Yellow Pages, no driving all over town, no haggling, no hassles.