On Sun, 30 Oct 2011 15:38:17 -0400, Leon Fisk
wrote:

The farm I worked on many years ago... just hooked up a light to the
pressure switch. When the light was on the pump was running (Doh!) and
it was pretty easy to deduce that something wasn't right when the light
was going on-off in a funny pattern. A simple delay switch might do the
trick too.

Bingo! Get a Vaportight outdoor wall fixture ('Jelly Jar' with a
protective cage) and put a 4O Box up on a Rigid conduit riser over
the well building (use a roof jack for the shingles) so you can see it
from all around.

Do NOT get the 'lantern' style Vaportight where the jar is pointed
straight up - those depend on there being a good gasket at the base of
the jar to keep the water out, worst case it runs down the inside of
the conduit and does nasty things to your pump panel.

With the jar mounted Open End Up gravity keeps the water out of the
fixture, the gasket is only there for washdown circumstances.

Put a Green or Amber globe on it, and a ~40W 130V A Lamp. It will
catch your eye from anywhere when the pump is running, and if the
light is blinking and fluttering you know something's up.

You could add a second Red one and hook it to a pressure switch if it
can't get enough pressure up - you might be overdrafting the well and
it's running dry. Or better, you get a Warrick Relay (Warrick
Controls Co.) - they have a low-voltage electrode that looks like a
sparkplug, you drill and tap a hole in the side of the well output
pipe. When the pump starts sucking air the detector electrode goes
open to ground, and it will trigger the Warrick to shut down the pump
until reset.

If you get a deal on an 'Indicator Stack' light that's outdoor rated,
go for it. You can then have a White indicator for Power On, Amber or
Green for run, Red for Failure, and a Blue for a Heating Alarm - the
pumphouse heater or stat has failed and it's below 45F in there.

But then again, let's not... What am I saying?? R.C.M ALWAYS
over-thinks these things!!

-- Bruce --