Flickering Lights

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WJones

Member
Location
Leesburg, Florida
I have a home owner who says that when her pump runs her lights flicker. I have't been by there yet but she says her pump doesn't have a pressure tank and is just a constant run pump. The lights don't just dim and come back up but continue to flicker as long as the pump runs. Has anyone experienced anything like this or have suggested solutions?
 
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sparkease

Member
Sparkease

Sparkease

WJones said:
I have a home owner who says that when her pump runs her lights flicker. I have't been by there yet but she says her pump doesn't have a pressure tank and is just a constant run pump. The lights don't just dim and come back up but continue to flicker as long as the pump runs. Has anyone experienced anything like this or have suggested solutions?
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a pressure tank is required or you will ruin pump. the pressure switch will cycle constantly and cause large inrush current each time it starts,water does not compress so you are starting pump against head pressure causing switch to cycle repeatedly,also the wire to pump should be 125% of full load amps on motor plate.
 
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hurk27

Senior Member
Location
Portage, Indiana NEC: 2008
sparkease said:
a pressure tank is required or you will ruin pump. the pressure switch will cycle constantly and cause large inrush current each time it starts,water does not compress so you are starting pump against head pressure causing switch to cycle repeatedly,also the wire to pump should be 125% of full load amps on motor plate.
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Centrifugal pumps do not create a high head pressure, only positive displacement pumps do, when the flow is restricted they unload and current is less, but start up current will be a problem, most lawn sprinkler systems don't use a tank or a pressure switch.

I agree that using the pump in this manner will shorten the life of the motor from short cycling, there are constant velocity pump systems that do not use a tank as the pump is running on a VFD, but this doesn't sound like the case, I have also seen systems where there was only a ballast tank that only held air.
 
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T.M.Haja Sahib

Guest
WJones said:
I have a home owner who says that when her pump runs her lights flicker. I have't been by there yet but she says her pump doesn't have a pressure tank and is just a constant run pump. The lights don't just dim and come back up but continue to flicker as long as the pump runs. Has anyone experienced anything like this or have suggested solutions?
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Check the current taken by the pump motor as it continues to run.Is the motor current steady or fluctuating?If fluctuating,it may cause the lights to flicker and then there is problem with the pump set.
 
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Hv&Lv

Senior Member
Location
-
Occupation
Engineer/Technician
T.M.Haja Sahib said:
Check the current taken by the pump motor as it continues to run.Is the motor current steady or fluctuating?If fluctuating,it may cause the lights to flicker and then there is problem with the pump set.
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Not necessarilly, fluctuating current could be as simple as a bad or loose connection arcing during the pump cycle
 
ptonsparky

ptonsparky

Tom
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
ActionDave said:
OK now that we have pump squared away what about the lights?:)
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Now we get to deal with voltage drop. If indeed it is the pump causing the VD, when did it start?

Has it always been this way?

Was the water system properly installed and designed? The lights would not typically be on the same BC so most likely we have a problem with undersized service or feeder conductors. Maybe a POCO transformer severely undersized. Poor connections someplace from day 1?


Recent:
What changed? Is the tank water logged? Poor connections? Pump motor drawing more current than it used to? Faulted cable?


Many of the private wells here have buried tanks and she may not know that. The device that is designed to place a bit of air into the tank at each start of the pump may have failed. This causes the pump to cycle frequently. They can function in this manner for quite a while.
 
ritelec

ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
WJones said:
I have a home owner who says that when her pump runs her lights flicker. I have't been by there yet but she says her pump doesn't have a pressure tank and is just a constant run pump. The lights don't just dim and come back up but continue to flicker as long as the pump runs. Has anyone experienced anything like this or have suggested solutions?
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??? Cyclic or noncyclic flicker ???

If it is or not, I don't know. How you would test for it, I don't know.................I just like saying.

Almost as much as Snubber.

Here's another..........pyrophoric carbonization.................isn't this fun....


I might suggest to shut off the pump and see what happens with the lights. I might also suggest having the owner get a pump/well guy out there to set her up.

Could it be power coming to the building........How do you test cycles? Oscilloscope?

Interesting. snubber
 
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kwired

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
ritelec said:
Heard in Europe it's a problem around machinery ...............guess the lighting is like a strobe light............ the machines running, looks like it's not, you loose a limb.


snubber
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That is not limited to Europe. Happens easily with HID lighting - arc in the lamp is extinguished 60 times a second - if rotating machinery is running at right speed there is a strobe light effect that makes it look like it is turning slower than it is. Merc vapor and HPS are bigger offenders I believe than MH.
 
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