Preventing a pump from running when there isn't water

[Work4latte]

I need to be able to ensure that the well pump doesn't run when there is no water.
Ideally, the pump would stop when the water is low, wait 20 min or so, and then start up again automatically.
What would do this? what is it called, are there different types of (circuits?) with different advantages/disadvantages, where do i get it, how hard is it to install?

 

[Valveman]

I need to be able to ensure that the well pump doesn't run when there is no water.
Ideally, the pump would stop when the water is low, wait 20 min or so, and then start up again automatically.
What would do this? what is it called, are there different types of (circuits?) with different advantages/disadvantages, where do i get it, how hard is it to install?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Work4latte]

ok, that works, ty. I would like to align the output from the well more closely with the well's capacity, along with putting a cycle sensor on it. There is a valve right at the well, just where it comes out of the ground. It doesn't have a handle on it, just a square nut that you can turn with a wrench. Any ideas on which way would be 'open' and which would be 'close'? screw in to close? or is it more likely a ball valve so aligning the square one way is all on and 90deg is all off?

 

[Reach4]

I would start with CW=closed.

You can deadhead a pump for a bit without damage. It is a matter of the motor heating, so I cannot define bit. It is more than 10 seconds.

 

[Work4latte]

my pump has a franklin qd control box on it, which will stop the pump when the well is dry. Would the cycle sensor replace that completely? is there a cheaper option that would just be added to the qd box somehow? The problem is that the current setup doesn't come back on by itself, so i have to get out there and flip the main breaker to reset it.

 

[Reach4]

You would still need a control box to provide the start capacitor and start relay. I suspect there is a way to remove that run-dry protection part. That may be model number-specific.

Incidentally, you might look at finding a replacement start capacitor before that becomes urgent. They degrade with time and starts.

 

[Work4latte]

You would still need a control box to provide the start capacitor and start relay. I suspect there is a way to remove that run-dry protection part. That may be model number-specific.

Incidentally, you might look at finding a replacement start capacitor before that becomes urgent. They degrade with time and starts.

so the cycle sensor would be in addition to the current control box, and the restart would only work if the cycle sensor shut down the pump. if the control box shuts off , i'm in the exact same boat as now? that's not happy news.

 

[Reach4]

My suspicion is that there would be an easy way to make the control box not shut you down, but still serve as a control box. Remove a module? Jumper a terminal? If you posted the model number of your box, maybe I could look around for you.

 

[Work4latte]

My suspicion is that there would be an easy way to make the control box not shut you down, but still serve as a control box. Remove a module? Jumper a terminal? If you posted the model number of your box, maybe I could look around for you.

it's a franklin qd control box, model 2801074915 there's some kind of wiring diagram inside it which i can't really see but i took a photo of with the phone

 

[Reach4]

Looking around, 2801074915 itself is a control box without included run-dry protection. The QD Pumptec is an add-on device that adds the run-dry protection.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/removing-qd-pumptec.67978/ discusses removing the Pumptec module.

https://franklinwater.com/media/180820/qd_pumptec_manual-225559101_m1551-.pdf has installation procedure. I guess you would reverse that to uninstall.

While in there, I would investigate the start capacitor and take dimensions. The Franklin part numbr for the capacitor is 275 464 118 (275464118)and the rated capacitance is 86-103. People sell capacitors cross referenced to the Franklin number, and this page may be of interest: https://www.supplyhouse.com/Motor-Start-Capacitors-19703000 I am not sure of diameters, but I suspect they would fit.

If it turns out that you do not have a QD Pumptec module, then you probably have a bad capacitor or relay. The pump could have shut down due to overtemperature, and just not restarted due to a marginal part in the control box.

 

[Work4latte]

finally got the cover completely off that control box ( perfectly simple once you done it, not as intuitive as expected) and i can see that there is a Littelfuse pumpsaver module on it. I think this means that the shutoff and restart should be happening. So something here isn't working properly. there's also a big capacitor in it and a blue square something . I'll start trying to figure out what's going wrong with it.

 

[Reach4]

Blue square thing is a solid state relay. It turns off the start winding after the motor starts.

 

[Valveman]

Look up the Littlefuse thing. It should be turning the pump off on dry well and on after a certain amount of time. The QD and the pump aver should do the same thing as a Cycle Sensor if they are working properly. You don't need both.