Circuit Breaker tripping after constant cycling

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shelldrake111

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Hope you can help. My well recently started "thumping" real loud. Like someone was banging on the side of the house. Had water this morning and surging water pressure. like a pulse. Pump was starting and stopping instead of steady run. Water stopped flow all together and breaker tripped. Replaced Breaker and now replaced Control Box at well. Capacitor was bad in old control box. Went to turn on power and breaker still tripping immediately.

Bought new tank because I was pretty sure the bladder was bad. Had a freeze last winter and have had problems with pressure since. Told guy at home improvement store that I pressed check valve on pressure tank and water came out. Said bladder was bad in tank.


Haven't installed new tank yet as I am still trying to get power to well.

No go. No juice. Breaker trips immediately.

Attached new control box front cover to old control box seat.

Am going to replace whole control box but was wondering? If my pump went bad would it cause this?

Replaced pump about 3 yrs ago.

88ft of lead pipe about 90 foot in ground.

Lots of red iron. Have Iron Filter.

1 HP pump.

Any ideas before I replace whole pump again?
 

Cacher_Chick

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If the pump was cycling that much it is probably damaged. I would test the wiring for a short to ground but the problem in any case is very likely to be IN the well.
 

Masterpumpman

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The only way to test problems in the well is with an ohm meter and an Amprobe (combination amp and volt meter) With these a qualified person can check for a wire, motor short or a burnt out motor. In any case the pump will have to be removed from the well. As Cacher_chick said, "Test, Don't Guess!". If the freeze was between your pump and your pressure switch, that's what burn't out your pump and if PVC casing it may have also damaged your well. Cycling could have caused the pump further damage due to the bad bladder in the tank.
It won't be cheap but I recommend if you are going to DIY, go to a regular Well Pump Supplier such as http://www.preferredpump.com/locations.html (stay away from big box stores) and purchase a new pump and a Pside-kick (a kit with a new tank and everything). The Pside-kick is new tecnology where as you use a small WX-102 tank and you'll get a constant pressure. Don't let anyone sell you the new technology VFD pumps, they are a computer nightmare.
 

Thatguy

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I guess you could run a heavy extension cord at 240 V directly to the well, bypassing the now-disconnected existing power supply line. The cord should have less than a 5% voltage drop at whatever distance it is. If the pump draws 10 A and the distance is 100', which is a 200' conductor length, you'd need at least #14 copper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

If this setup pops the breaker it's a short in the cabling downstream of your connection point, or it's a short in the motor, or the pump impeller is jammed.
 
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