Pump Starts then stops

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cntryguy

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When we turn on the power the pump starts and then shuts off about 10 seconds later. We were told the bladder went bad in the pressure tank so bought a new one. Still have the same problem, so bought a new pressure switch and that didn't help either. Does anyone have any ideas?
 

Gary Slusser

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Have you checked the air precharge pressure with no water in the tank? It should be 1-2 psi less than the cut in switch setting. I.E. 30/50 psi gets 29-28 psi air pressure with no water in the tank.

If that doesn't fix it, then, assuming a submersible pump, you should do ohms etc. electrical tests on the pump motor; which should have been done before replacing parts and hoping to get lucky.
 

Steveinwashst

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Hey Cntry guy I don't want to hijack you thread but my pump just started doing the exact same thing. My control box is right above the pressure switch in a closet with the pressure tank. My control box hums for about 8 to 10 secs then everything shuts off. My pressure switch does not seem to be starting at the usual 40 psi. If I manually connect the points in my pressure switch the the pump comes on for the short period with the control box humming and thats it.

Pump=Grundfos SP3A 1HP

My pump is about 70' down. Can I check my ohms from the pump house connection? What would be a working range?

Any help appreciated.

Steve
 

Steveinwashst

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I ought to back up. Here is what I know. Water wasn't working when I arrived home. Pressure was down to zero. I did the manual start lever on the pressure switch and pump did not fill tank like normal. I had to keep manually starting the pump via the pressure switch. Thought maybe the pressure switch was bad. so manually pushed down the contactors. Pump will run for a few seconds then shut off. I am able to bring the pressure up by manually doing this. The control box needs short while then it resets and the pump runs for a few more seconds. I checked the switch box out at the pump house and cleaned out the disconnects.

I would appreciate a walk through of electrical test to make to identify the problem. Not sure how many amps my grundfos should be drawing. Not sure how to test the resistance of the motor.

Thanks,
 

Valveman

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A 1 HP should pull no more than 9 amps. Your overload is tripping. It has an automatic reset after a few minutes, which is why you have to wait for the pump to start after applying power. This in not good. Either your capacitor and relay in the control box are bad, or your motor is bad, or both. This is one of the many failures that is caused by cycling the pump on and off too much. If any of the wires going down to the motor shows any continuity to ground, the motor is bad.
 

Steveinwashst

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Thanks Valveman. The pump is in such bad shape now we cannot even fill up the pressure tank. We are going to pull the pump this morning I've got one teenage boy up and am working on getting the other up to give me a hand. I changed the pump out a few years ago and replaced the pump, control box, and pressure switch. I took the pump to a pump guy and he checked the resistance with an ohm meter. I cant remember the range he said it should be in. He said it was weak and I changed it out. Like a lot of stories here I'm sure, the pump wouldn't work until I changed out the pressure switch! But, I'll start by checking the pump and wiring, I remember last times the wires had chaffed at the bottom of the pump as well.

All help is much appreciated!

Steve
 

Steveinwashst

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Thanks for the chart Gary. I have added the res values into my notes that go in the pump closet. Water is back on and although I don't remember any of it I already saw this problem coming. We pulled the pump and inspected pump, and wiring. The wires had been hitting the casing about halfway up and two of the wires were bare. The red line had been arcing and was nearly disconnected. That means the pump was running on just a little over one leg of the 220V line. My wife checked the records and found we replaced the pump in 2000. Back then I bought all new pump wire to run but never installed it. I left it in the shop. The wire came with a splice kit as well. So I had everything I needed to fix the problem. The only tricky part was that I don't have a heat gun so I used a propane torch to heat the shrink tube. Works fine but makes me nervous as it is really easy to overheat the shrink tubes! We taped the wire to the pipe every few feet. Hopefully this will solve the problem for years to come. I'm glad I found this site. Gave me the presence of mind to think about how to attach the wires to the pipe. Check for the details. Make some additional notes for the pump closet. I also dropped a tape with weights down the well. The well and water level is at the same level as when drilled. Good to go. Thanks for the info on this thread and in the sticky's as well. Now for a nice long shower and off to work tomorrow!

Steve
 

Steveinwashst

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Yup Well man. Pump is hung on 1" ploy pipe. I have a rope going down as well. I imagine it moves around quite a bit while running. Got any tips? Also Gary I am back. I'm going to print out the trouble shooting guide as well. May come in handy in the future.

Thanks again,

Steve
 

Steveinwashst

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Hmm. Now I'm thinking. Texas Wellman I'm guessing you have seen this kind of thing before. The Black Poly allows me to pull the pump by hand. I just need help laying it down so it doesn't kink and getting it spread out. Funny as I was taping up the wire I was thinking what I could do to protect it. I taped the wire with just a little slack between taped parts for when the pipe straightens out or flexes one way or the other.
 

Gary Slusser

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You should have pulled the cable tight without slack.

I've pulled thousands of feet of PE pipe in wells from just over 500' (all in rock bore wells) and have never seen any rub caused damage except on cable. Cable that wasn't pulled tight and taped every 10' or so.

If you use 160 or 200 psi rated pipe, there is no stretching, and I doubt 75 psi would stretch.
 

Steveinwashst

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It wasn't stretching I was worried about. The poly was laid out in a wooded area on a hilside. There is really no way to lay the pipe out straight so there were gentle bends in it. So are you saying not to tape it and just pull it tight out the cover and to the pump house? Or pull it tight and tape it? It wouldn't take much for me to adjust it.
 

Texas Wellman

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Yup. See it all the time. The #1 complaint or failure when using black polypipe on submersible pumps is that no matter how hard you try you can't always keep it from rubbing on the casing and rubbing a hole into the wire.

That's why I refuse to use it. Either go sch 80 PVC or galvanized drop pipe all the way. No matter how hard you try you ain't gonna get that black poly to get ridgid enough to keep it from happening 100% of the time. I have NEVER seen it happen when used with sch 80 or galvanized pipe but have seen it plenty when used with black poly pipe regardless of how tight you tape it.
 

Valveman

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I have seen chaffed wires with Sch 80 PVC as well. You would be surprised how much 200’ of sch 80 will torque when a 2 HP pump starts. I try not to bring this up on EVERY thread. But so many of the problems with well pumps are caused by cycling on and off too much. No matter what kind of pipe you use, chaffing the wires doesn’t happen if you stop the pump from cycling excessively.
 

Masterpumpman

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Understand I'm not knocking Texas Wellmans thoughts because PVC and Galvanized pipe is still acceptable in some areas but it's old technology. I work Nationally and Internationally and Plastic PE pipe is the accepted technology today. Pumps and wire properly installed on PE pipe are todays technology by Certified Contractors. Even though a safety rope is sometimes used I don't recommend installing it because more problems arise from the safty rope coming loose and lodging between the pump and casing preventing the pump from being pulled from the well.
 

Justwater

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I posted this in another thread, but it's relevant here as well.

just so everyone knows.. all submerisible pump cable is not made the same. on the left is regular twisted sub cable, on the right is sub cable in a jacket. I don't know much about PE, but if rubbing wires was a common issue.. I would be sure to only use sub cable in a jacket.

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