Residential well

[solo618]

Ok I got a call from a friend that his sprinkler guys cut his line to the well pump. It's a 220 line he tells me , ok easy enough, but he said the sprinkler guys told him it,s " a cat. 4 cable or something like that". The house is about 40 years old so that is before my time, and I never heard of anything like that before. Does this sound right to anybody ? I was thinking maybe it is some kind of control lines or something. I would appreciate any help .

 

[qcroanoke]

Ok I got a call from a friend that his sprinkler guys cut his line to the well pump. It's a 220 line he tells me , ok easy enough, but he said the sprinkler guys told him it,s " a cat. 4 cable or something like that". The house is about 40 years old so that is before my time, and I never heard of anything like that before. Does this sound right to anybody ? I was thinking maybe it is some kind of control lines or something. I would appreciate any help .

It should be UF (underground feeder) cable. That being said it's probably a 3 or 4 conductor
flat well cable that was ran all the way back into the house from the pump.
You're going to need a underground splice kit and probably a piece of the same type cable to use to put both ends back together. Meaning you may need to slice it 2 times, probably very little slack to play with.

 

[haskindm]

CAT 4 would be a communication wire. Better check to see what was actually cut.

 

[qcroanoke]

CAT 4 would be a communication wire. Better check to see what was actually cut.

True, check it out first, then go get what you need to fix it.

 

[Jraef]

Side bet:

The 220V line to power the pump was properly installed with UF cable (or RGC), buried to the proper depth to avoid being cut by sprinkler guys, so it's fine. But the control cable was run in a shallow trench using older phone wire (which was labeled Cat. 4) because their phone guy left them with a big roll of it once and "what the heck, wahrs is wahrs" so they used it for wiring the pressure switch at the well head back to the starter box next to the house. That's what the sprinkler guys cut and without it, the well won't work.

 

[jumper]

Side bet:

The 220V line to power the pump was properly installed with UF cable (or RGC), buried to the proper depth to avoid being cut by sprinkler guys, so it's fine. But the control cable was run in a shallow trench using older phone wire (which was labeled Cat. 4) because their phone guy left them with a big roll of it once and "what the heck, wahrs is wahrs" so they used it for wiring the pressure switch at the well head back to the starter box next to the house. That's what the sprinkler guys cut and without it, the well won't work.

Sounds reasonable, but all the resi wells I have done do not have motor starter.
Breaker to disconnect- disconnect to pressure switch- pressure switch to well motor.

So side bet 2:

"Cat 4" is LV lighting, and sprinkler guy cut it and UF cable to well.

Just guessing also.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

I never even heard of Cat 4-- used for LV lighting-- hahahahahahaha

 

[jumper]

I never even heard of Cat 4-- used for LV lighting-- hahahahahahaha

Hence, my parathetical sarcasm. I have never seen or installed it. I am guessing a LV cable, Class 2, was cut with the UF well cable.