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Please hang with me on this question and I hope I can explain it with enough detail to firgure out what is happening before hiring someone to come out and take a look.

I am not getting enough power to my pool pump outside. I have tried reseting my circuit breaker multiple times and the rest of the house is still getting plenty of power but my pool pump still won't turn on or reset. I have tried plugging in a radio to the electrical outlet connected to the pool pump to see if that will at least work but that will only work when I actually turn the pool on. The pool pump still won't turn on but the radio will. So I am getting enough power to turn the radio on when I turn the pool switch on but not enough to start the pool pump? Shouldn't the electrical outlet work withought having the pool switch turned on? And why does the radio only work when I have the pool on? Sorry if that is the same question multiple times but I am very confused as to why this would be. It feels like I am not gettting enough initial power to start the pool pump and because of that it trips everytime I turn the pool on. Is this something that I can fix on my own?

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What do you mean by "turn the pool on"? Does it do something fancy beyond holding a bunch of water? – BMitch♦ Oct 24 '12 at 17:52
Filter the water. Sorry if that is turns you on.. perv. – Marcus Steele Oct 24 '12 at 18:52
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You'll likely have to contact a licensed Electrician. Troubleshooting electrical systems is very difficult to do without actually being onsite. – Tester101♦ Oct 24 '12 at 20:02
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@MarcusSteele Either you're not explaining things properly, or everything is completely FUBAR'd. I don't think you're going to get useful advice here. Call an electrician. – Chris Cudmore Oct 24 '12 at 20:21
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Something about this tells me you don't really understand how breakers work - and if that's the case, please call an electrician before you hurt yourself or others. Electrical for wet locations like a pool needs to be done properly, or not at all. – Grant Oct 25 '12 at 15:06
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1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote

If the radio only comes on when the switch is on then you have a switched outlet, which is designed to only have power when the switch is on.

If the pump doesn't work when the switch is on, then since you already tried the radio on the outlet, and the radio worked, that means the problem is the pump itself.

If the pump is causing your breaker to trip, it indicates a SERIOUS problem with the pump causing a short circuit. Stop trying to use the pump, it could be deadly.

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Thanks Evil but have one more thing to add and I knew I was leaving something out. The radio has worked plugged into that electrical outlet in the past without having the pool on. Does that make a difference, is this still an electrical issue or just a bad pump? thanks again. – Marcus Steele Oct 24 '12 at 18:56
So to confirm - in the past the radio worked with the pool off, now the radio doesn't work with the pool off ? – The Evil Greebo Oct 24 '12 at 19:09
Exactly but does work now only when I turn on the the pool pump. Thanks. – Marcus Steele Oct 24 '12 at 19:54
@MarcusSteele Is just one socket switched? How does the pump get turned off when you turn off the pool? – BMitch♦ Oct 24 '12 at 20:02
I have it on a timer. But I can manually turn the pool off and on by the switch. A silver switch that is right underneath the pool clock. Flip it counter-clockwise to turn on the filter. Clockwise to turn the filter off. – Marcus Steele Oct 24 '12 at 20:11

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