Banjo Bud
Active Member
First of all, I am in no way associated with the company that sells Cycle Stop Valves or Cycle Sensors, but here's my story. I bought a Cycle Stop valve for my shallow well pump 6 years ago. A year after that, I was away and the pump supply water ran out and my pump ran dry. Luckily, my wife called the neighbor who immediately shut the breaker to the pump off, so there was no damage to the pump. It was then that I bought a Cycle Sensor. It was expensive but I thought if it could save my pump, plus the labor (even though it'd be my own), it'd be worth it. Well, two mornings ago, we woke up to no water. Upon investigation, I found that the pressure line had blown off the front of the pump. Upon further investigation, I found that the pressure switch had failed on the high side and the pump continued to run. At some point below 75 psi, the line blew off the pump. I know it was below 75 psi because I have a 75 psi pressure relief valve on the pressure line and there was no sign that it had opened. I assume the pump only ran for a few seconds after that and shut down because the garage room that the pump resides in had only a 3 foot wide puddle of water in it. The error on the sensor was "dry run". It saved my pump. I'm not sure how it dry ran because the supply line was still ok. No matter. The switch stopped my pump from running and saved it. Even though it was still a bit of work getting things up & running again with the pipe repair, a new pressure switch, and readjusting everything, I am glad I had the Cycle Sensor.