Advice with well pump replacement cost

Three wire motors have a better chance of out lasting two wire, when it comes to voltage surges or short cycling. A voltage surge will blow a capacitor in a three wire, where a two wire will go poof.
A short cycling 3 wire motor will likely blow the capacitor or sometimes a relay, a two wire is a goner.
A three wire may have more parts to burn out or go bad, but the parts are on top of the ground.
A two wire will need to be pulled if it experiences any of these conditions.

We only change the wire if it needs to be changed, nicked or has two or more splices.

If you have a costumer ask "Why did you change my wire?" and you tell them
It's cheep insurance. or While it's out, now would be a good time.
Then anybody else can say "That was waste of money" You will be branded a
bad guy. It's just not a good idea to fix what is not broke.

If there is not a ligament reason to sell someone new wire. We will not waste the costumers money.

Travis

Three wire motors have a better chance of out lasting two wire, when it comes to voltage surges or short cycling. A voltage surge will blow a capacitor in a three wire, where a two wire will go poof.

Click to expand...

The three wire motor has the start cap in line with the start winding only. The run winding is still just as vulnerable as the two wire's run winding.

A short cycling 3 wire motor will likely blow the capacitor or sometimes a relay, a two wire is a goner.

Click to expand...

Again, the run winding is still at risk just like the two wire.

A three wire may have more parts to burn out or go bad, but the parts are on top of the ground.

Click to expand...

The two wire has none of these parts, nor does it need them. So there is less to go bad. Which is another reason three wire motors don't last as long, because relays and capacitors go bad all the time, which is hard on the motor when it tries to start.

A two wire will need to be pulled if it experiences any of these conditions.

Click to expand...

The statement above covered that one.

It's cheep insurance. or While it's out, now would be a good time.
Then anybody else can say "That was waste of money" You will be branded a
bad guy. It's just not a good idea to fix what is not broke.

Click to expand...

I change the wire and don't charge for it. It's part of the service. Since about 75% of the job is labor anyway, why take a chance of a nick (which is very hard to see when it's covered with sulphur, iron and other mineral) causing the pump to fail long before it should have or to be pulled again when new wire would have prevented that.

I agree selling things that aren't broke shouldn't be done in most instances. But in todays world of throw away everything, one has to be careful of what he does not change.

Waterwelldude said:

We only change the wire if it needs to be changed, nicked or has two or more splices.

If you have a costumer ask "Why did you change my wire?" and you tell them
It's cheep insurance. or While it's out, now would be a good time.
Then anybody else can say "That was waste of money" You will be branded a
bad guy. It's just not a good idea to fix what is not broke.

If there is not a ligament reason to sell someone new wire. We will not waste the costumers money.

Travis

Click to expand...

I had a quote today for $3000-5000 for my 1/2hp submersible pump. I asked the guy why so much and he said that he would only do it if he changed out everything because he was giving me a warranty and wanted to be sure he didn't have to go back in. Ok, I can see that, but in reality I am paying for it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to replace perfectly good pipe that has only been in the well for 19 years that should last 100. Personally I am willing to take the risk on the pipe to save several thousand dollars.

Here anyway, if someone sets a two wire, they have guaranteed a return trip within five years. They don't seem to last that long here.

Example: After our little hurricane recently, there were lots of power lines down and poles. There was a contractor that were changing out transformers. They put a 480 where a 240 was supposed to be. Needless to say there were lots of burnt up stuff. There were 8 wells on this transformer,
out of all the wells 5 were on (there was no pressure so the switch was on)
4 were three wire 1 was a two wire. The two wire was the only one that was hurt. The remaining pumps were 3 wires and just lost the capacitor.

The other three wells, the owners were smart enough to shut down all the power coming to there houses.

Myself, I like three wire.
Not trying to start a debate, just giving my opinion.

I can see what you are saying about the wire being covered with iron or some other type of mineral.
Here, it is not that bad, so its not a issue.


Travis

redracer999 said:

I had a quote today for $3000-5000 for my 1/2hp submersible pump. I asked the guy why so much and he said that he would only do it if he changed out everything because he was giving me a warranty and wanted to be sure he didn't have to go back in. Ok, I can see that, but in reality I am paying for it. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me to replace perfectly good pipe that has only been in the well for 19 years that should last 100. Personally I am willing to take the risk on the pipe to save several thousand dollars.

Click to expand...

I do not agree with the guy your quote came from at all.
Just because you change all but the well itself, does not mean you will not have to go back. Anything can happen.
I would find a new well guy. Someone that makes that kind of claim, is not sure of his or her own work, or is not sure what is wrong with the well in the first place.


Travis



I just noticed, this is an old thread!

And he's a crook that preys on the uniformed.

I agree also. Get another contractor. This guy is trying to send all his kids to school on your dollar.

I agree with everybody else that you at least need a second opinion or quote. I agree with Travis about the 3 wire motors. "3 wires rule", at least in my area.

In case anyone is interested in a very interesting discussion about the three v/s two wire motors. This thread does a lot to explain the difference.

https://terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14991

Well Pump Problem

Old, 15 y.o well pump died, was replaced,...still not working. Water in line into house found to be frozen, due to loss of natural ground insulation from excavation for new 864 sf garage. Never would have thought of this! So, small trickle is running from faucet, until a thermostatically controlled heated line can be installed into the inlet line, ...ASAP! It sure does get expensive, but is worth it to have quality pieces installed by a qualified professional.