SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

Karl

On Aug 29, 1:31 pm, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:
SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

Karl

Topside relay is an obvious place to start. Wait, breaker 1st.

Could be the pump is fine and the pipe is holed 'tween hither and yon,
or even in the well.

If the well cycles on and off, you may be able to tell it's doing so
from the top of the well with the cap off.


Dave

Karl Townsend wrote:

SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

Karl

Need more info.

What type of pump? Two wire or three?

What symptoms? No water flow is obvious, but is it drawing current or
not?

Obvious stuff like power to the leads heading down the well.

Resistance of the leads heading down the well to each other and to
ground when disconnected from power / control.

Etc.

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:31:00 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

http://www.franklin-electric.com/Man...int_1phase.htm

Wayne

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:31:00 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

Karl

Here is one for Red Jacket pumps that is pretty good:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.com/pdf/RJSINGLE.pdf

Here is the whole page, incase some other model is more
appropriate:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.co...egory.asp?ID=1

Good luck, this doesn't sound like a fun way to start/spend
a holiday weekend

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

Here is one for Red Jacket pumps that is pretty good:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.com/pdf/RJSINGLE.pdf

Here is the whole page, incase some other model is more
appropriate:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.co...egory.asp?ID=1


Thanks Wayne and Leon,

I just as far as checking breaker and nothing real obvious. (Apple picking
emergency has me on another crisis. I picked 25 bushels since last post)

I'll read manuals, and trouble shoot in the morning when I'm not tired.


Karl

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
anews.com...


Here is one for Red Jacket pumps that is pretty good:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.com/pdf/RJSINGLE.pdf

Here is the whole page, incase some other model is more
appropriate:

http://www.redjacke****erproducts.co...egory.asp?ID=1


Thanks Wayne and Leon,

I just as far as checking breaker and nothing real obvious. (Apple picking
emergency has me on another crisis. I picked 25 bushels since last post)

I'll read manuals, and trouble shoot in the morning when I'm not tired.


Karl



Karl
I stopped by about three weeks ago. I was down in Hutchinson and was going
by anyway. Open trench running to the house, no sign of life. Good luck with
the well.
Steve

....
I just as far as checking breaker and nothing real obvious. (Apple
picking emergency has me on another crisis. I picked 25 bushels since
last post)

I'll read manuals, and trouble shoot in the morning when I'm not tired.

In a way, no big deal. I just learned the pump has overloads, they had
tripped. Got water again. Now, for the bigger question, this is the first
trip in 22 years. Should I investigate something while its running?



I stopped by about three weeks ago. I was down in Hutchinson and was going
by anyway. Open trench running to the house, no sign of life. Good luck
with the well.
Steve

I replaced the electric service to the sales barn. It had momentarily lost a
leg last year. Glad i did, when I dug up the line i found a splice that had
almost burnt in two. its in conduit this time and no splices.

I guess i should have sold out two years ago when i had a great offer. Now
stuff seems to break all the time that i put in 20 - 25 years ago.

Karl

Had the same problem this summer, pump was running, can hear it from the
well cap. The hose burst ( 1/2'' split )about 2 feet above the pump, below
the water line. Replaced the hose, problem went away. This hose has been
in the well for nearly 30 years.
Rick

"Karl Townsend" wrote:

SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Is it drawing current?
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Is it drawing current?
Maybe my other post didn't go through. The overloads had tripped. First time
in 22 years. Should i check anything while its running?

Karl

The troubleshooting pages at red Jacket and Franklin pumps have some
very good troubleshooting procedures to go through: amperages on each
leg, voltage drops, etc. Suggest you just run through the whole bunch.

I'd be looking at voltage drop to the well control which will affect the
starting cap relay drop out point as well as the run cap.

Karl Townsend wrote:
Is it drawing current?
Maybe my other post didn't go through. The overloads had tripped. First time
in 22 years. Should i check anything while its running?

Karl

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:32:36 -0500 in rec.crafts.metalworking, "Karl
Townsend" wrote,
In a way, no big deal. I just learned the pump has overloads, they had
tripped. Got water again. Now, for the bigger question, this is the first
trip in 22 years. Should I investigate something while its running?

Yeah, check the voltage going to the motor. Low voltage due to too
much drop in the supply wiring will cause a motor to overload.

Karl Townsend wrote:
SWMBO is NOT HAPPY. The well just quit running and we've got no water. its a
standard submersible unit. Folks with a good memory know that I installed
new wiring out to the unit about a month ago.

Anybody know of a trouble shooting manual for submersible pumps? I want to
eliminate topside stuff before calling the well man.

Karl



First check that the pressure switch is commanding the contaftor
to turn on, and that the contactor is actually sending 240 V to
the feed at the house (If I remember how you had this set up the
new way.) If all that is well, then :

Disconnect the wires at the top of the well and short the hots
together. (Umm, shut off breaker first! but, you knew that.)

Then, at the house, check for continuity to earth ground (there
shouldn't be any) and a very low resistance between the two hots
(You've got them shorted). If the hots don't show something
below an Ohm or two, then gophers chewed the conduit and the
wire burned up.

If all this checks out, it indicates you should have 240 V power
all the way to the well head. Do you have a starting control
still in the well head? (Most likely so.) If the starting cap
wasn't getting put in circuit, it SHOULD blow the breaker after
a second or two.

If you still can't find anything wrong, check for continuity to
ground of the well pump wires. Most of these systems eventually
get small leaks, so a little conducance isn't too unusual, but
something like 10K Ohms or less might indicate a fried pump
winding. Of course, continuity should be a couple Ohms on the
240 V terminals of the pump motor. If it is near infinity, then
the wires have come loose or the pump is fried. Either way, it
will have to come up.

Jon

David Harmon wrote:
On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 17:32:36 -0500 in rec.crafts.metalworking, "Karl
Townsend" wrote,

In a way, no big deal. I just learned the pump has overloads, they had
tripped. Got water again. Now, for the bigger question, this is the first
trip in 22 years. Should I investigate something while its running?


Yeah, check the voltage going to the motor. Low voltage due to too
much drop in the supply wiring will cause a motor to overload.

Yup, excellent advice. Other than that, it could possibly just
be a dirty contact in what I suspect is a thermal overload.
Having it trip and resetting it may put it good to go for
another 22 years. Also, well heads seem to be prime sites for
heavy corrosion, so the overload itself may be going bad.

Jon

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:42:10 -0500, "Karl Townsend"
wrote:

Is it drawing current?
Maybe my other post didn't go through. The overloads had tripped. First time
in 22 years. Should i check anything while its running?

Check the starting and running current, and get a capacitance meter
to double check the run and/or start caps - or just toss 'em on
General Principles if they are the 22-year-old originals, they are
cheap.

If the pump is old and used heavily, the bearings could be going
just from age. The load will go up a bit from the extra drag, and if
it gets sticky and fails to start fast enough the locked-rotor current
will pop the overloads.

Now you know why direct buried splices and/or splices pulled through
into the conduit are Strictly Verboten. They will go bad.

And you always put a pull box or handhole ever 200 - 225' because
the longest (normally available) fishtapes start at 240' and gradually
get shorter.

And a witness post (or a big rock) near every handhole that isn't in
a concrete driveway, because it will get buried and "lost" over time.

Been there, knew "It has to be around here somewhere because the
pathing tone goes this way", probed for that stupid handhole with a
trenching shovel...

-- Bruce --

Thanks for the good advice

And you always put a pull box or handhole ever 200 - 225' because
the longest (normally available) fishtapes start at 240' and gradually
get shorter.

My son's best friend is a union electrician. He showed me that tying a
plastic bag on a string, called a kite, and sucking the line though with a
vacuum cleaner is the way to go. I may never use a fish tape again.

Karl

Karl Townsend wrote:

Thanks for the good advice

And you always put a pull box or handhole ever 200 - 225' because
the longest (normally available) fishtapes start at 240' and gradually
get shorter.

My son's best friend is a union electrician. He showed me that tying a
plastic bag on a string, called a kite, and sucking the line though with a
vacuum cleaner is the way to go. I may never use a fish tape again.

Karl


I was doing that with a shop vaccum, a paper towel and a roll of 22
gauge wire over 35 years ago. For one job I had to use and air
compressor to clear the dust & blown in isolation out of a 150 foot run
of 1'2" EMT I got a gallon bucket full, then had to pull the pair of 14
AWG rom the sound room to the speakers in a new church. Those tapered
rubber plugs from the pre charged freon lines were laying around the job
site, so i cut a hole in the tip and forced it over the nozzle of the
air gun. YOu could hear the pressure building up in the conduit for
almost five minutes, before the crap started blowing out the other end.

Vacuum cleaners work OK on most jobs, but I have run into a few that
got plugged with the paper of plastic and had to be either rammed out,
or a cut at a bend.


--
http://improve-usenet.org/index.html

aioe.org, Goggle Groups, and Web TV users must request to be white
listed, or I will not see your messages.

If you have broadband, your ISP may have a NNTP news server included in
your account: http://www.usenettools.net/ISP.htm


There are two kinds of people on this earth:
The crazy, and the insane.
The first sign of insanity is denying that you're crazy.

Karl Townsend wrote:
Thanks for the good advice


And you always put a pull box or handhole ever 200 - 225' because
the longest (normally available) fishtapes start at 240' and gradually
get shorter.


My son's best friend is a union electrician. He showed me that tying a
plastic bag on a string, called a kite, and sucking the line though with a
vacuum cleaner is the way to go. I may never use a fish tape again.
I've seen this done, truly awesome. Well, nobody ever said
pushing a rope was going to be easy! Pulling works so much better.

Jon

"Karl Townsend" wrote:

My son's best friend is a union electrician. He showed me that tying a
plastic bag on a string, called a kite, and sucking the line though with a
vacuum cleaner is the way to go. I may never use a fish tape again.

When I was pulling wire quite often I had a set of plugs made out of soft foam rubber,
that the electrican that tipped me off on them, called mouses. String went through
center, generally tied to a small washer. Insert plug into conduit, attach vacuum cleaner
to other end. Worked like magic.

Wes
--
"Additionally as a security officer, I carry a gun to protect
government officials but my life isn't worth protecting at home
in their eyes." Dick Anthony Heller

Is the vacuum cleaner named Monica?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Karl Townsend" wrote in message
anews.com...

My son's best friend is a union electrician. He showed me that tying a
plastic bag on a string, called a kite, and sucking the line though with a
vacuum cleaner is the way to go. I may never use a fish tape again.

Karl

On Tue, 2 Sep 2008 14:00:12 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

Is the vacuum cleaner named Monica?
mOnica
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada