Hello, my first post here, so I hope I can contribute in the future.
I have a Zoeller M53 sump pump that died on me. I was moving the floater switch while connected to AC, and the pump made no noise whatsoever. It was dead.
I disassembled it and found out that there were several stones at the bottom impeding the vortex to rotate. So my guess is that since it was impossible to turn, the pump heated up and died. Does this make sense?
If so, and because I hate to give this piece of metal to the county since God knows what they will do with it, I though to revive it. It doesn't seem to be a very complicated piece of hardware, so I thought to give it a shot.
If my assumption that something burnt inside because of the stones that entered from the outside (I have corrected this problem since), is it fair to assume that what I need to replace is just the switch?
I saw a Switch Repair Kit on eBay for $34.00. Considering I can screw and unscrew, I figure that it is not a bad investment and a great way to recycle (i.e, keep using) the pump. But I would hate to spend the money, get all messy (oily stuff came out of the pump when I disassembled it), only to find out that the Kit is way off the mark.
Can anybody shed any light on my guess? Does anyone think that the switch kit would do the trick? When I saw it, there is no sign of burn or anything, so I don't know.
Thanks and I look forward to any help.
If you have the switch off there should be 5 wires inside. Three comming from the cord (black white and green) and two others going into the motor. Take the black and white from the power cord and connect them directly to the two leads/terminals on the motor. What you are doing is by-passing the switch and sending the power directly to the motor. If the motor runs it's probably a bad switch.
Was the pump hot when you first looked at it? If a stone jams the impeller the motor will overheat until the thermal overload inside the motor shuts it down. When it cools down it will reset itself and the motor will run again. If the pump was cold this wouldn't apply.
Awesome suggestions, pumpguy! I will try by-passing the switch later tonight and will report back.
To answer your question, I realized the pump was not working probably days after it failed. I can only tell you that by the time I realized it was not working and pulled it out of the pit, I can't remember it being hot. I did try to connect it back to the AC power on several occasions but, as I said, there is no power or even a hint of noise coming from the pump.
One more thing I did notice when I disassembled it was that there was some type of plastic or hard substance debris in the rotor area compartment, that is, in the compartment underneath the switch. I could have been simple debris or something that melted with the heat, not sure.
I will report back later on the by-pass. Thanks!
That plastic debris is probably the insulation from the motor's windings. I've seen that before and if that's the case it's junk-not worth fixing. Sometimes when a pump jams it will overheat, shut down, cool off and repeat the process. It can only do this so many times before something gives. If you have an ohm meter you can check for continunity between the two motor leads/terminals. If you have none (open circuit) it's a boat anchor.
A boat anchor it is. I tried bypassing the switch, and not even a pip. I guess it won't even be useful as an anchor since it has all that oil on it.
Bummer. Thanks a million for your help, pumpguy.
No problem, sorry it didn't work out better.
Tags: zoeller, sump, pump, dead, black white, boat anchor, by-passing switch, leads terminals, motor will, pump when, report back, that there, when disassembled
