Why does the motor on my pool pump keep going bad?

Is it being drenched with water? Mine did that after it got royally soaked by a loose connection. It ruined all the grease in the bearings, and froze the motor.

You need to have a pool company come and take a look at your setup. DIY pool supply stores won’t help you that much as they want to sell new pumps. I have a pool company maintain my pool for $90.00/month. Money well spent.

I don’t think so. I know that it hasn’t frozen because it still works but something is definitely wrong with it/them.
It is called on the label, “PROLINE Insulated Wet End Pump”.

Mine is an above the ground pool & I can’t afford $90/month. Wish I could…

That sounds like a problem with the power supply. Voltage fluctuations can take out a motor.

A problem with the power supply? Really? What can I do about that?

Get a voltage tester. Check your power input lines.

You may want to have a pool filter company look at it. There’s something wrong elsewhere in the system and the pump is paying the price. The link below describes several possibilities and mentions causes of a Noisy Motor, both of which center around inadequate water flows:

“Bearings can become damaged when the pump has run dry and overheated, or if the pump is put under high loads…” and “A noisy pump can also mean cavitation. This sounds less like screeching and more like grinding. This condition is caused by starving the pump for water.” Take a look at this link for more information. http://www.poolcenter.com/pumps.htm

Maybe something here will help. Although if the pump is properly sized and installed, I’d be inclined to check that voltage supply, too, as @Adirondackwannabe has suggested.

Because of the noise, though, I suspect that either the pump may be oversized and pulling a vacuum in the line (cavitating, since it can’t get enough water to keep up with its demand) or the input line may be crimped or partially blocked, amounting to the same thing. A pump that goes dry in that way will tend to burn out its bearings.

I am also in the camp that thinks the problem is electrical. Call a electrician.

Any possibility the pump is being overloaded or stressed due to flow restrictions or above normal differential head pressure? Is the pipe input and output diameter sufficiently large? Could there be anything causing a back pressure (a kids toy or ball? a rock?, other foreign material? filter elements?) that is clogging the lines somewhere causing the pump to work too hard and creating lifing issues?

What about chemistry issues? Is the pool pH and acidity maintained? if not, could it be causing some sort of corrosion or oxidation or some other chemically induced degradation in there?

Are you running the pump too many hours a day outside of normal? Maybe it is breaking down after the correct number of hours but if you run it 20 hours a day, it wears out in a couple years rather than a dozen years.

I would question electrical supply as the cause as this is probably a couple HP motor at most, or 1500 watts maybe. At 115 volts that’s maybe 10–12 amps.

Wow! You guys really gave me a lot to think about! That web-site is packed with info. Thanks! I’ll look it all over & we’ll see where it goes…

Well? Did you ever figure it out?
My guess is low voltage at the pump, or
A clogged intake line – dirty filter or a restriction in the intake hose.