Fountian pump works in one location but not another

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Jtrickman

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I was called to a house to find out why a fountain pump (Smartpond Model#FP300ASL) was not working. It is a 120V cord and plug pump and has a small low voltage light that goes in the fountain. I tested the outside gfci outlet and it reads 121V. I tested it under load with a drill and the voltage does not fluctuate. The pump will work from the gfci protected laundry circuit in the same house, but will not work outside. I even tried replacing the pump and the same thing happens with the new one. I'm stumped. Thanks in advance for any input.
 
I am stumped also but it sounds like you have a bad wire going out to the fountain or a bad gfci. I cannot explain your results but there has to be something amiss. Something is not testing right. Change the gfci first then you know it must be the wire.
 
Jtrickman said:
I was called to a house to find out why a fountain pump (Smartpond Model#FP300ASL) was not working. It is a 120V cord and plug pump and has a small low voltage light that goes in the fountain. I tested the outside gfci outlet and it reads 121V. I tested it under load with a drill and the voltage does not fluctuate. The pump will work from the gfci protected laundry circuit in the same house, but will not work outside. I even tried replacing the pump and the same thing happens with the new one. I'm stumped. Thanks in advance for any input.
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Just want to be clear. Are you saying that you can plug a drill motor into the outside GFCI receptacle and it works just fine but the pump motor will not work when plugged into this same receptacle?

When you say it doesn't work do you mean it doesn't come on or that it trips the outside GFCI?

Are you trying the pump motor out in the open outside or is there some way you are locking the pump impellor so it can't move during installation?
 
Still no luck

Still no luck

I have replaced the GFCI, tried it with a standard receptacle, moved the breaker to the other phase, changed the AFCI breaker, tried it with standard breaker. This has happened with two different brand new pumps. The polarity is correct and I did try to reverse polarity on the receptacle just to see if the pump was manufactured wrong. No luck...
 
growler said:
Just want to be clear. Are you saying that you can plug a drill motor into the outside GFCI receptacle and it works just fine but the pump motor will not work when plugged into this same receptacle?

When you say it doesn't work do you mean it doesn't come on or that it trips the outside GFCI?

Are you trying the pump motor out in the open outside or is there some way you are locking the pump impellor so it can't move during installation?
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It doesn't come on at all. The GFCI does not trip. The pump motor has a low water shutoff but it is submerged so it will work. It works fine from another area of the house.
 
Jtrickman said:
It doesn't come on at all. The GFCI does not trip. The pump motor has a low water shutoff but it is submerged so it will work. It works fine from another area of the house.
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You may have allready done this but I would run a cord from inside the house (where it has worked ) and plug the installed pump in and see what happens.

Things like this are allways hard to accept because they don't seem to make any sense but there is something wrong.


I'm getting the idea that it has something to do with the position of the pump because that is the main thing that's changed. 120V at one location is the same as 120v at another location.
 
Have you tried having a separate load on the outlet when you plug in the pump? Such as a light bulb, to make sure there is still voltage present when there is a load.
 
growler said:
You may have allready done this but I would run a cord from inside the house (where it has worked ) and plug the installed pump in and see what happens.

Things like this are allways hard to accept because they don't seem to make any sense but there is something wrong.


I'm getting the idea that it has something to do with the position of the pump because that is the main thing that's changed. 120V at one location is the same as 120v at another location.
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I did try that, it seemed trivial but I agree the location is the only difference. It will work on from several circuits(kitchen, laundry, garage) but not others(bedroom, porch, microwave).
 
Got to be the wire-- I didn't read the post above. If it is not working on some circuits then you have a bad phase possibility
 
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Jtrickman said:
I did try that, it seemed trivial but I agree the location is the only difference. It will work on from several circuits(kitchen, laundry, garage) but not others(bedroom, porch, microwave).
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Sounds like it works from about half the circuits. Just for the fun of it go to the panel and see if you read 240V from phase A to phase B.
 
growler said:
Are you thinking the branch circuit conductor feeding the exterior GFCI at the fountain?
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Yes but now that I see it was only working on some of the circuits I am with you. That info should have been in the first post unless I missed it there also
 
Jtrickman said:
I tested voltage with a drill running on same receptacle...no change
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Dennis Alwon said:
Yes but now that I see it was only working on some of the circuits I am with you. That info should have been in the first post unless I missed it there also
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Dennis I can't figure out how that drill motor worked on the same receptacle where the pump wouldn't work.

I would like to eleminate the idea that a leg could be missing before he goes a lot farther.

The I would back up and through out all information gathered so far and start over. Somewhere there has got to be a mistake.
 
IMO, we are not getting straight answers or we are getting info that was not tested properly. The scenario makes no sense especially if the drill draws as much current as the pump. It is not possible to have the results given and the pump not work, IMO.
 
Ok...it is a float switch issue. If you pick it up 2" off the ground it works. It explains why every circuit it worked on inside I had it on a countertop and every other circuit I tried it was on the ground in a bucket. When I did the drop cord thing again I picked it up to move it and it started working. Thanks for all the all the replies. This one had me head scratching.


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