Well pump install

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

bjp_ne_elec

Senior Member
Location
Southern NH
Haven't done a well pump install, as it was always "city water" in all my past experience. Does anyone have any pics of the points in this situation where there are junction boxes, etc. I know the pump comes with wire installed, but what happens at the well head, and transitioning back to the house?
 
The pump only has a pigtail hanging off of it, so you need to do a submersible splice, with a "well pump splice kit". You run "unjacketed UF cable" up the well from the pump (also known as "submersible pump cable"). At the head of the well, you wirenut onto UF cable or conductors in conduit. The well cap has provisions to accept conduit into a little bump on the side of the cap. Run UF or conductors in conduit into the pressure switch or pump starter from the well. Supply the pressure switch or pump starter with the appropriate branch circuit. Send a bill, and have a good day.
 
Marc - what is "un-jacketed UF"? The UF I know of - gray outer jacket - exposes the individual conductors when you take the gray jacket off. On the cap, where you make the joint - I assume is had some Cu. In. labeling on it, allowing it to contain wire joints/splices?
 
Davis9 said:
The last well I did the Well Cable was long enough to reach the controller without splice.

Tom
Click to expand...
No way, Jose. The well pump only has maybe a foot of pigtail on it, I don't care what brand it is. If you had a really long tail, the well driller must have added it onto the pump.
 
bjp_ne_elec said:
Marc - what is "un-jacketed UF"?
Click to expand...
It's also known as "submersible pump cable".

centriline-pump-wire.gif


Truth be known, it's basically twisted THWN. Some installers run regular UF the whole way down the well, to the splice at the pump. Just a different style...
 
mdshunk said:
No way, Jose. The well pump only has maybe a foot of pigtail on it, I don't care what brand it is. If you had a really long tail, the well driller must have added it onto the pump.
Click to expand...

He did. So did the one before that. Not too many wells round here though, mostly City Water connections.

Tom
 
bjp_ne_elec said:
Haven't done a well pump install, as it was always "city water" in all my past experience. Does anyone have any pics of the points in this situation where there are junction boxes, etc. I know the pump comes with wire installed, but what happens at the well head, and transitioning back to the house?
Click to expand...
We never do well pump installs-- that's the well pump person's job around here. We have the driller, the well pump installer and the electrician. All we do is wire the circuit to the pressure switch, eevrything else is done by the well dude.
Yes, they use tw wire or thwn.
 
Much to my dismay here it is like Dennis describes, the well installer handles everything beyond the branch circuit we run.

They will run the 'pump cable' all the way back to the pump controller.

I only run into wells for irrigation water used for the lawns at commercial buildings.
 
Well pumps in 2 flavors also, 2 wire and 3 wire, with a 2 wire your going to be coming right off the pressure switch, and with a 3 wire you will be wiring a pump control box. And like the above posts, I've usually only have to supply the branch circuit...
 
iwire said:
Much to my dismay here it is like Dennis describes, the well installer handles everything beyond the branch circuit we run.

They will run the 'pump cable' all the way back to the pump controller..
Click to expand...
That's got to be one of my top 10 biggest electrical gripes. Well drillers doing electrical work, and well pump cable run exposed where it enters the building getting to the pressure switch. I've complained many times to inspectors about the matter, yet the practice still persists. :mad:
 
when I first moved to NC almost 30 years ago, the well pump installer would put the pump in with TW and run the 3 twisted TW wires underground to the crawl space (no sleeve), lay it on the ground with the plumbing across the crawl space to the holding tank. Egads. That went on for years.
 
I don't have a problem with the wiring being installed from the pump up to the point of emergence from ground. I do believe the person doing the install needs to be "certified" to do it. How enforcement would work is beyond me.

I have a problem with them (the well drillers) running the wiring beyond this point.
 
hardworkingstiff said:
I don't have a problem with the wiring being installed from the pump up to the point of emergence from ground. I do believe the person doing the install needs to be "certified" to do it. How enforcement would work is beyond me.

I have a problem with them (the well drillers) running the wiring beyond this point.
Click to expand...


I used to work for a well-drilling company. That was actually my first work as an electrician and was my first exposure to 3-phase electricity. In our company, drillers drilled, period. Our servicemen did installations and repairs.

In new installations (new houses), we ran pump cable up through the "well seal" either directly into an LB where we wire-nutted to THHN in PVC conduit in trenches that we dug all the way to the house. We used SCH 80 for all conduit above ground, and typically P&C below ground (although, sometimes we used SCH 40). Usually, this occupied the same trench as the water pipe (at least for some part of the run. The desired location of the pressure tank typically dictated where the control box would be located, as well as the pressure switch. Keeping those components in close proximity to each other kept wire runs (and, thus costs) down.

In new house installations (or new agricultural installations), we usually installed all of the equipment up to the weather head. This included meter cans, main breaker panels and sub-panels. Our work was inspected by city or county officials.
 
I have mostly seen the local well drillers use #10-2 UF cable from the well head back, sometimes directly buried next to the water line, and sometimes pulled through a separate black pipe.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top