"James" wrote in message
...
Not to be silly, but are you totally sure that you have water at the
source
??

--James--


Absolutely!
When the pump does start, I have plenty of water and it will run
indefinately (I ran it continuously for an hour after shock chlorinating the
well and piping) and there was no shortage. This is a percussion-drilled
well over 200' deep and we've had a lot of rain.

Problem could be a sand-locked rotor, or an electrical problem in the
controller, but I am not sure which.

pump fails to start:

Black to Red: 220V
Black to Yellow: 220V
Red to Yellow: almost zip, less than 10V


pump running:

Black to Red: 330V
Black to Yellow: 220V
Red to Yellow: 220V

If Black is Main and Red is Start, then Yellow must be some sort of
return/common.
So assuming the line above to be correct, then Red to Yellow (start to
return/common) having almost no voltage across it when the pump is being
energized, but not starting, seems to suggest that no start voltage is
present. But if the rotor is sand-locked, would this voltage be this low, or
much, much higher, say around 80VAC?

I read on starwatersystems.com, a troubleshooting table where they talk
about reversing Main and Start (black and red) to reverse the pump direction
and blow the sand/sediment out of the pump. My understanding is that you can
reverse a 3-PH pump, but not a 1-PH pump by rewiring, but I may have
incorrect info.
In any event, the pump is 20 years old this July and probably could use a
cleanout of the intake screen, so being able to reverse motor direction
would probably help clear that screen of some sediment that my have formed.

Can anyone verify the function of the Red, Black and Yellow wires? Also,
zero or almost no voltage across Red/Yellow at startup (with no successful
start) is an indication of which condition? (locked rotor, or controller
problem, such as open relay or intermittent/bad start cap?)

Keeping my fingers crossed that it's just the controller and NOT the pump!


--
Take care,

Mark & Mary Ann Weiss

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