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Well Pump questions trouble shooting.

A

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member
Wife called said we had no water.
Came home put the voltmeter to the pressure switch.
Reads 240vac going to the motor.

Waterline inlet pressure reads 20 psi. The pressure switch is factory set to 30-50psi.

Went to the well pulled the cap. Can see water 6 feet down.
There is no control box.
Noticed one of the wires was floating in the air (Yellow wire). Checked the voltage across the Red and Black wires its 240vac.

The yellow wires I'm not sure if they ground to the well casing or to one another. I assumed one another. Without connecting the yellow wires I checked the voltage from Red-yellow(house) 120vac
Black-yellow(house) 120vac. Yellow is neutral.

No circuit breaker tripped. I have 240vac on the red and black wires at the well. With power off I checked the resistance at pump Red - Black (41k ohms) but I did not disconnect the pressure switch. Red-Yellow is +Mega Ohm same with Black to Yellow. One was a bit more.

Any thoughts? Breaker is not tripping. I'm guessing wire or pump issue. The wires from the house are spliced at the pump. Cutting those and measuring resistance might tell me the condition of the motor?
 

We had one fail 30 years ago, we pulled the pump and stretched it all out on the ground, 130 feet. When I was wiping off the wires right above the pump one of them stretched, the wire was broken inside the insulation. This probably happened because I hadn't taped the wires well enough to the pipe. Simple fix, shortened the wires and the pipe, put it back in the well and it was still running fine when we sold the place.
 
Some pumps have the controller built into the pump case...
Sometimes it's more sensible to bite the bullet and call in a well driller/service company. What do you do if the pump is hanging by a thread and you lose it down the hole?
That's what we pay the pro's the big bucks for here.
Just a thought....

Rod
 
My wife always gets on my case about the professional thing.

Pulled the pump.
Laid out the wire. It measures 320 feet.
Noticed more than a few chaffs in the wire bundle while pulling it up.
One was corroded through. Sort of looked like my wife's 2005 pacifica wiring harness premature corrosion.
Wired the pump up at the well casing with 4 feet of wire versus 320 feet pump runs. Its quiet but there is no load or water going through it.
I'm guessing the installer who put it in was not a professional. The third wire (yellow) was not used disconnected at the pump.
15+ year old pump replace it while its out?
 
It looks like in this case it might be a severed wire in the middle of the run.
Going to replace the wiring at a minimum. Hope the pump goes in easier than it came out.

Thanks

I forgot my password.
 
Did you verify that the contacts of the switch were not too corroded? This happens to me many times, I spray it with wd 40 every spring and fall and don't have issues with a sticking switch.
 
I don't think I'd replace it... if it works. Check the continuity of the wire to see which one is broken or where... just to verify.
I think if I was to replace the pump I'd want the controller placed in the house or somewhere safe above ground. That would take a bit of rewiring but not too much...
I'd also be good to try the pump in a barrell of water to see what happens then?
Do you also have a torque arrestor on this pump? Check those kind of things out...
Again, I'm not really up on the specifics of all these things because I honestly don't deal with pumps in boreholes. It's too expensive to drill a new one just because I lose a pump in the whole...

Rod
 
At a minimum I'm replacing the wiring from the top of the well to the pump.

The submersible pump assembly. It was a bugger pulling that out by hand. 300+feet. Had my two kids come out and guide the cable/PE pipe out and down the field as I pulled. I thought the well was 80-100' deep. Not the case.

Plan at the moment new wire. Drop the pump down a 100' and run it. If I get a decent flow rate keep the pump. If not pull it out and replace.

I have to go to a plumbing supply house to get the wire I'll bring the pump and ask a few questions while there.

The pump is a Gould manufactured on 9/91. 2 wire 5ES10422. With a Franklin motor 1hp.
No GPM tag on the pump.
 

You don't mention if you have spacer discs on the pipe to keep it and the wires off the casing wall. You should have one every twenty feet or so. or the wire will rub their insulation off.
 
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