Bad well pump vs. well run dry??

[buckyswider]

Hi all, we have a "hobby well" that is used only in the temperate months for irrigation. It was running fine when shut off last fall. Turned it on this week and...nothing. Checked both power legs and they are both hot.

Doesn't a bad pump usually pop the breaker? I know next to nothing about this (it's actually my neighbor's well for now, on a piece of land right behind my property that I'm going to purchase from him at some point).

The pump is 19 years old, so I guess it's at or over it's expected life expectancy anyway. But it seems odd to me (with no evidence for me to back this up) that it was fine when shut off but now isn't pumping anything. I'd think something like this would show signs of petering out before becoming unresponsive.

Would a clamp meter showing me power draw tell me anything in this scenario?

Thanks!

 

[Reach4]

Checked both power legs and they are both hot.

That is not how to check voltage. Measure between the two hots and expect around 240 volts. Your way would show 120 volts to ground on each hot, even if there was a total open on one of the hot wires.

Would a clamp meter showing me power draw tell me anything in this scenario?

If you get current, the problem is not a broken wire or open connection, so yes. Also the amount of the current may give more info.

Is this a 2-wire pump, or is there a control box?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[buckyswider]

OK duh, I had an epiphany after posting. This is now wired to my electric service, so I can use my "Sense" energy monitoring to glean information. So after turning the pump breaker on, it pulls like 7kW for 5 seconds or so. Then it goes back to zero (baseline of my current usage) for about 10 seconds then pull 7kW for another 5 seconds and shuts off. It repeats this cycle, although it appears that the duration of the "off" cycles increases every time. Even after shutting the breaker and turning back on, the longer duration persisted- i.e. it didn't start over again with a 10 second off cycle.

There is some sort of control box- looks like the Square D logo and a lever with the legend "Pull out to Shift" with on/automatic/off settings.

There's three wires to the pump: Black and Red (hot) and green (which I assume is ground).

 

[Reach4]

Nice having that current data.

The pattern does sound like a failed pump, and the cut-out in the pump is tripping and then cooling.

There is some sort of control box- looks like the Square D logo and a lever with the legend "Pull out to Shift" with on/automatic/off settings.

There are pressure switches with a lever.

Could the label say "start" instead of "shift"?
I don't know why you don't have to operate that lever each time you start, because with zero pressure, a low-pressure-cutout pressure switch would trip off with zero pressure.

You have a "2-wire" pump; the green wire does not count for this purpose.

Is that a 5 inch steel well, or 4 inch pvc, or what?

 

[buckyswider]

5 inch steel. (Well, it's steel- I didn't measure it!). Here's the control box.

 

[Reach4]

5 inch steel. (Well, it's steel- I didn't measure it!). Here's the control box.

If it is "5 inch" it will be about 5.5 inch OD (~17 inches circumference). If "4 inch" it will be about 4.5 od (~14 inches circumference).

With 5 inch, you can put a 4 inch (likely 10 gpm 1/2 hp) submersible with maybe a flow inducer. That is a widely available and cheap size. With 4 inch steel, you may want to consider a 3 inch SQ pump. That could probably get a flow inducer too, but I have not seen that discussed.

The consideration is that 4 inch steel wells, such as I have, get protrusions that can hang up a 3.9 OD 4 inch pump, an a 3.75 OD slimline/trim line pump, as I have. The SQ pumps are 2.9 OD, but can be pricey.

I was unaware of that type of pressure switch. Thanks.

 

[buckyswider]

Just to clean this up, the pump is working! I hadn't left the breaker on for any appreciable amount of time. I did that (leaving it on) quite accidentally, and came out the next morning to a soaked yard. Seems like the drain in the pit was open instead of closed. Oh well, beats having to get a new pump!