Sprinkler Pump Wiring

[mandjknight]

Hi Everybody,

I've got a dumb question. I'm hooking up a Craftsman 2 HP Lawn Sprinkler Pump. I've got everything dry fit and ready to go but I'm kind of confused on the electrical connection. It requires it's own 230 Volt connection. I've got the right type of wire and dedicated circuit, but I just can't figure out where the neutral wire connects.

I've got some heavy duty 10 gauge outdoor/underground wire coming from the service panel on the side of a shed (dedicated 30 amp circuit). The wire has a ground wire, neutral wire (white), red wire (hot), black wire (hot), as you would expect. The motor on the pump has an obvious place for the ground wire and two "Lines" for the two hot leads. Where does the neutral lead go?

The manual has two wiring diagrams.....neither of which apply. They both show wiring diagrams for a 230 Volt to 115 Volt Conversion which doesn't apply to the 2HP pump because it requires 230 Volts. What am I missing here?

Attached is a picture showing the motor with the neutral, and hot leads connected.

I'm not much of an electrician but figured I could at least connect this pump.

[jimbo]

"Pure" 240 volt loads, like a motor or heater, do not use a neutral connection. You have 2 hots and a ground. In this case, you only needed 10.2 wg, but you have 10/3 wg. Just tape off the neutral wire.


When you see a 4 wire hookup, like a stove or dryer, it is because those devices used 120/240. That is , the big loads ( heaters) are 240, but smaller items like a motor or clock , and control circuits, are set up at 120, so you have to have the 2 hots PLUS the neutral.

[SteveW]

Looks to me like the ground wire is pretty close to the screw for the black wire. Can you route the ground underneath the white connection block?

[hj]

The 230/240 volt to 115/120 volt conversion was shown because it is already wired for 230 volts. And you do not need a neutral.

[Bob NH]

Your connection is unsafe.

You are supposed to have a clamp holding that cable in place. If you get a standard NonMetallic clamp you can discard the nut and screw it into the threaded hole in the pump. You may have trouble getting that 10-3 UF into a 1/2" connector.

Without that clamp, the threads of that hole will eventually wear through the insulation on those wires and cause a short.

Those wires outside the motor housing should be pulled in with the cable and pruned to fit in the housing. There should be no wires visible outside the housing. The outside sheath should be visible inside the motor housing.

You will need to trim and carefully form those wires to fit them to the terminals.

If you need more room, you can mount a small box or a conduit body to that same hole. The box or conduit body would give you space for longer wires from the cable and make it easier to connect them. You could also terminate that white wire in the conduit body. I find that a 3/4" plastic conduit body has lots of room, but you would need to provide a 1/2" adapter to fit the motor.

[mandjknight]

A big thanks for all of the quick replies! What you have described makes perfect sense.

I realize now I only needed 10/2 but I had used the 10/3 to run the power from my house out to a separate panel on the side of the shed so I was just using the wire I already had lying around.

Regarding the comments about the connection being unsafe (wires outside), you are correct. I was just trying to do a "dry run" of everything including wiring and all of the plumbing connections (unions, foot valves, etc.) before I did everything final (all power is currently turned off). I like the idea of mounting some type of small union box just outside of the threaded connection on the motor to give me a little more room to work with that wire. It's some thick stuff and isn't the easiest thing to be maneuvering inside that tight space.