Troubleshooting a residential well.

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PaulMmn

Senior Member
Location
Union, KY, USA
Occupation
EIT - Engineer in Training, Lafayette College
Another problem with wells is a broken foot valve. When that happens, the pump will run forever to keep pressure in the system. First symptom-- a sudden surge in your electric bill! This one requires the well people to pull the pump out of the well. Lets you find out just how deep it is!
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Another problem with wells is a broken foot valve. When that happens, the pump will run forever to keep pressure in the system. First symptom-- a sudden surge in your electric bill! This one requires the well people to pull the pump out of the well. Lets you find out just how deep it is!
It should still reach pressure then shut off. Depending on how bad the check valve is malfunctioning will determine how fast you lose pressure and then restart again, presuming no water is being used at a fixture.
 

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
The control boxes are usually the problem as it is the capacitors that get blown. The well company generally carry that equipment with them in their vans. Easy to change but around here if there is power at the pressure switch then it is the well companies problem. On my own home I would deal with it.

The pressure switch has a small piece of pipe that comes out of the bottom and connects to the plumbing. The piping is how the pressure switch can know whether to come on or turn the pump off. That small tube gets filled with gunk from the well and affects the pump. Sometimes the gauge gets stuck. As you can see there are many things to check.

On my house I finally replaced the galvanized nipple on the pressure switch with a brass nipple. The brass nipple will not get build up inside the way a galvanized pipe will.
A proper installation would never put the pressure switch at the bottom of a vertical run, even with an upward loop. The best installation is to put the switch on one leg of a tee with the center outlet of the tee going down a few inches to a cap. That leaves the sediment where it cannot cause any problems.
 

Dennis Alwon

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Staff member
Location
Chapel Hill, NC
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Retired Electrical Contractor
A proper installation would never put the pressure switch at the bottom of a vertical run, even with an upward loop. The best installation is to put the switch on one leg of a tee with the center outlet of the tee going down a few inches to a cap. That leaves the sediment where it cannot cause any problems.

The pressure switch T's up from the pipe feeding the holding tank
 

GoldDigger

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Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
The pressure switch T's up from the pipe feeding the holding tank
That should do it.
There are two basic situations, one in which the pressure switch tees off a water carrying pipe, where sediment will not accumulate but corrosion or collection of floating scum might happen, the other in which the pressure switch is on a non-water carrying pipe where a little more caution with placement is needed.
 

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
The way I do it is check the panel for 120 or 240 volt pump. Then by-pass every thing and walk out to the well itself. Pull the cover off. Check for power right their. If it's getting proper power theere you know the pump is bad or the wire down to it.

Incidentially I rarely run in to one that has a capacitor. It's my understanding they're only used if the pump is 1.5 hp or better.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
The way I do it is check the panel for 120 or 240 volt pump. Then by-pass every thing and walk out to the well itself. Pull the cover off. Check for power right their. If it's getting proper power theere you know the pump is bad or the wire down to it.

Incidentially I rarely run in to one that has a capacitor. It's my understanding they're only used if the pump is 1.5 hp or better.
I've seen many 3/4 and 1 HP with remote capacitor as well as those same sizes with just a two wire input. I can't recall ever seeing a 120 volt submersible well pump, not saying they don't exist, but are not being used around here anyway. Would guess they would probably be limited to 1 HP or less.
 
Location
NE (9.06 miles @5.9 Degrees from Winged Horses)
Occupation
EC - retired
Remote cap with potential relays were about all ever worked on.

About 12 years ago When MDSW decided she wanted a new house I had a 3 phase dropped in and I supplied the VFD and controls. The pump installer knew next to nothing about them. Now, it's about all they install. They fit right in the riser.
 

Jraef

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Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
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Electrical Engineer
I've seen many 3/4 and 1 HP with remote capacitor as well as those same sizes with just a two wire input. I can't recall ever seeing a 120 volt submersible well pump, not saying they don't exist, but are not being used around here anyway. Would guess they would probably be limited to 1 HP or less.
Our water table in the valley I live in is at about 14ft (last I checked), we are over an ancient sand and gravel river bed with an adobe clay cap, damned near perfect for shallow well irrigation. 1/2HP 120V above ground jet pumps was about all anyone used around here for years, but 3 phase with little VFDs has now become more common. Still 120V input though because the HP requirement is so low. I just helped a neighbor with his, he got away with a 1/4HP pump and 10 gallon bladder tank to just feed his drip irrigation. Ironically I've never done it for myself, just too lazy I guess. I was going to have someone dig the well for me a couple of years ago, but when the drought hit, the demand went up so much that the local well drillers tripled their prices overnight (and are still booked months out). Now it's raining again, so I'll forget about it again, until probably April or May...
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Our water table in the valley I live in is at about 14ft (last I checked), we are over an ancient sand and gravel river bed with an adobe clay cap, damned near perfect for shallow well irrigation. 1/2HP 120V above ground jet pumps was about all anyone used around here for years, but 3 phase with little VFDs has now become more common. Still 120V input though because the HP requirement is so low. I just helped a neighbor with his, he got away with a 1/4HP pump and 10 gallon bladder tank to just feed his drip irrigation. Ironically I've never done it for myself, just too lazy I guess. I was going to have someone dig the well for me a couple of years ago, but when the drought hit, the demand went up so much that the local well drillers tripled their prices overnight (and are still booked months out). Now it's raining again, so I'll forget about it again, until probably April or May...
I've seen plenty of 120 volt jet pumps, just never a submersible pump of the type that typically gets dropped down a well casing.
 
Most submersible pump manufacturers offer both 110V and 220V variations, and I believe the 110V is 1HP and below. The two most common issues I see is either a bad pressure switch or a bad bladder tank. With a bad bladder tank, the pump pretty much runs continuously whenever water is called for, e.g. a tap turned on. This will also short cycle potentially damaging the pump. Until fixed, the electric bill will soar. In the end I agree...should have told the customer to call a well person or plumber.
 
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