Well caved in?

250 foot well, 2007 age. 3 gpm, very little use so far. 1HP submersible set 235' . Water perhaps 150' down.

Low pressure switch shut it down. Water left in system is white, fine powder, as clay.

Pump restarted and pumped a bit of white mucky water, then nothing or just spurts of water.

Oddly, all electrical tests are good, and the unit runs within normal specs. At one point while testing amp draw, amps went from 6.8 to 9.8 within a few seconds. Shut it off.

Can that be the pump running dry and the bearings binding up?

I am inclined to think the pump is buried in a cave in, and the water is not reaching it from that "plug" of muck above it, but the pump has "cleared" itself of internal clay....?

From what you say, it doesn't sound good.
The 9.8 amp should be the correct running amps for that pump. (assuming it is 220v)
It does sound alot like a collapse in the well, and that cave in may have stopped up the well.

It sound like it is time to pull it out and see if the well can be saved.


Travis

Its a 3 wire control box pump 240v. 9.8 amps is service factor amps with a non capacitor run box. Full load amps would be about 8.6 amps. 0 amps on the start wire when running.

But I am using a CRC box, made for a 1 OR a 1.5 hp franklin, and running amps are about 6, 7, and 2 , so a jump to 9.8 amps from 6 is way out of spec.

I am guessing packing around the inlet screen that allows a bit of water in when idle. Prepping for a pull.

Okay, 3 guys and a terrible hot day. Pulled the pump. Packed around the inlet screen was a martian version of white modeling clay and bits and pieces of quartz, shale and greenstone. the well had caved in to about the top of the pump and luckily we could could pull it from the muck. The water level in this 250' well was just 8' from the cap!

We set 220' of class 100 4" liner, and reinstalled the pump inside it [slotted it with a .105" saw blade] . The 4" liner in this 6" well settled 6' into the muck before stopping.

so the amp readings were accurate for a pump that was getting water very slowly and through a pile of clay muck.

I never saw such material as this clay - mixed with quartz and even a few particles of gold [adjacent to a famous gold mine] It required 15 gallons of water, and a wire brush to clean the inlet screen. A few more to clean your hands. Hopefully the liner will reduce the large particle intrusion, and we raised the pump another 22' from the bottom.