deep well problem?

Afternoon,

I've spent most of the afternoon looking at posts trying to get some answers, and I have really learned a lot. Lately we've been having problems with our well. It's about 90 feet in depth (I'm still trying to find out exactly) and is located in a pit about 8 - 10 feet below grade. It's about 180 feet to the house, and the pressure switch, tank & relief valve are in the basement. The control box is in the well pit.
Last week the pressure would drop to zero. Not sure why (it's a 30 -50 psi switch) but it would either build pressure on it's own or after flipping the breaker on and off. Then just the other day the circuit breaker kept tripping, about three times in ten minutes and then stayed put. I was thinking maybe there was a short in the wire down near the well. When I purchased the home, the wires were spliced down by the well, wrapped in tape and covered by a rock. I fixed that but thought maybe water got in and caused some problems.
So I pulled the cover off the well, and to my surprise there was maybe a foot of standing water in the well pit. I pumped that out and everything worked. I thought maybe there was a leak to casue the water or prhaps just seepage as we have had some rain lately, lots of snow melt and maybe the ground was saturated. So I've been pumping out the water daily, maybe twice a day. I had it pumped out and had my wife and kids flush all the toilets in the house and turn on the faucets, hoping to see evidence of a leak when the pump kicked in. I didn't see any water leaking.
Then today I get a call saying no wtare pressure, the breaker isn't tripped and what do I do? My wife turned off the breaker, reset it and still nothing. She went to a friend's house and came back a couple hours later and there was water.

Any thoughts/sugggestions? I plan to pick up a new pressure switch and control box on the way and see if I can figure out if either of them is the culprit. I dread the idea of pulling the pump, but I'll probably pay someone to do that if it comes down to that.
We've lived here five years now and I've replaced the pressure tank and the wtare filter system. The previous owner tells me to just have the pump rebuilt (if it comes to that) but if it gets pulled it'll get replaced probably. No idea of the manuifacturer of the pump, the control box is a Franklin.

Thanks for any advice.

Chris

You obviously have an electrical problem. It may be from water in the pit (my guess) but maybe the motor or power cable going down the well.

Replacing parts is not the answer until you know what parts to replace because they are bad.

Start in the Maintenance Table of Contents here:
http://www.franklin-electric.com/business/WaterSystems/service/AIM/default.aspx

I'm concerned about the breaker tripping. That normally means the pump is pulling high amperage on start-up or when the pump is running. If you have an amp meter you can check this at the pressure switch, while the pump's running. Sometimes this can be corrected with a new control box, although this can be just a temporary fix. You may have to replace the pump and or motor eventually, anyway.

Thanks for the advice, I found that troubleshooting guide. I'll be taking a closer look at it this evening. When I got home last night I pumped out the water thathad collected in the bottom and then took a closer look at the wiring. There is one portion of the wire that had some electrical tape wrapped around it, I think that might be the source of at least part of my problem. I didn't remove the tape last night (it was late) but I will tonight and see if there is a break in the insulation and maybe some corrosion.
I'' be checking all the electrical stuff using that guide and hopefully will be able to figure out what is going on. In regards to back fillingthe well pit, I will definitely do that if I wind up having to pull the pump. If I don't have to do it this summer, it will be on thetop of my to do list next spring. It will definitely make the place look better!
I greatly appreciate your replies. I knew very little about well pumps until yesterday. I'm learning a lot just reading posts here, I just hope I don't have to spend a lot of money right now. But better to get it figured out right now instead of in the winter. I'll be calling some well drillers today and see what they say.

Chris

You never mentioned the tank. It could be waterlogged and that alone can cause tripping of the breaker and the automatic thermal overload to trip. When the overload trips it takes a certain amount of time to reset depending on how hot the motor is. Waterlogging of a tank can cause this problem.

I agree that these wires are in bad shape, but unless they go underwater or are undergroung when it's raining, I don't think that is the immediate problem.

It's for sure not your pressure switch. This is called wishful thinking and foolish spending.

The tank was replaced shortly after I moved in, sometime around August or September 2005. I would hope they last longer than that... The wiring is going to get checked and waterproofed. The excess wire from the installation (whenever that was) was just kind of coiled up and tossed in the pit. I have since tidied it up some, but will probably shorten it so there is not the excess (probably 50 feet). I can't think of a reason to have that much wire just hanging around. But this was an old farmstead, the guy I purchased it from was the son of the original owner and based on the way things are in the house and the dealings when I purchased it, if there was a cheap easy way out, he took it.

Again, thanks for your thoughts comments and advice. They are all appreciated and appear to all be very sound ideas.

eod4647 said:

the circuit breaker kept tripping, about three times in ten minutes

Click to expand...

So it's not a short but the breaker was mildly overloaded, maybe 20% over rated current, depending on your breaker's trip curve.
http://ecatalog.squared.com/pubs/Ci...t Breakers/QO-QOB Circuit Breakers/736-09.pdf

This assumes your breaker is good. . .
What size is your breaker? What are the Full Load Amps and the Locked Rotor Amps for your pump motor?

Bad connections would reduce current but uninsulated connections could short to other conductors.

Tanks can go bad much quicker than that. Especially if they are purchased from big box stores. One and a half years is a good long life for one of those.

Thanks for all the help. I found what appears to have been the problem. There was a loose connection in the wiring from the house to the well. So I think I am back to having a reliable source of water. However, I'm going to be lining up someone to pull and replae the pump I believe. I also need to run a new water line to the house as well as new power to the well to get rid of the splice that caused the problems. I'm not sure of the age of the pump or it's condition so I think I'll just get it all done, switch to a pitless adapter and backfill the well pit.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend!

Thanks for the feedback on the electrical problem.

Let us know what the drillers say about bringing the casing up out of the ground etc..