[mtskidds]

Had no water Friday night. Banged on switch sat morning and it starting working for a few minutes. Changed out switch sat. afternoon work until Monday morning. Now now water and the breaker is tripped. When I wired it up I put the two wires coming from pump one red and the other black on the two center screws marked load and the two wires coming from the house one white and one black to the screws marked line.

[hkstroud]

Sounds right.

Describe your well system.

Is tank and switch located at the house or at the well head?

Are the switch points open or closed?

What is the pressure reading on the tank?

Is your pump switch located on the well pipe or does it have a small tube coming from the tank.

What type of tank, bladder or pressure tank?

Since you mentioned only a red and black wire going down the well, I assume that you have a two wire system, no cap and no control box.

[mtskidds]

Sounds right.

Describe your well system.

Is tank and switch located at the house or at the well head?

Are the switch points open or closed?

What is the pressure reading on the tank?

Is your pump switch located on the well pipe or does it have a small tube coming from the tank.

What type of tank, bladder or pressure tank?

Since you mentioned only a red and black wire going down the well, I assume that you have a two wire system, no cap and no control box.

Tank and switch are under the house crawl space. It is a bladder tank. It is a two wire pump system no control box. When I replaced the switch it worked fine pump on at 30 and off at 50. Now day and half later no water and the gauge is at 0 the points on the switch are closed all the time and the breaker trips. The original problem was no water and points were burnt on one side. When I banged on the side of the switch it started working for a while then quit. Can the way I hooked up the new switch make the pump go bad. I hooked it up the way it said two. Two wires for main panel to line on switch and the two wires for the pump red and black to load on the switch. Help please

[hkstroud]

Electric connections are correct.

Burned points could be result of arcing or could be from short circuit (down the well).

Disconnect wires from breaker at the switch, cap with wire nuts for safety.

Turn breaker on to see if it trips. If it does not the problem is after switch.


Reconnect wires to switch, disconnect wires at well head, again cap with wire nuts for safety. Try breaker again. If breaker trips problem is in wiring between the house and the well head. If breaker does not trip, problem is in wiring down the well.

Do a continuity check between the two wires going down the well. Do a continuity check between each wire and the ground.

Should have infinite resistance between each wire and ground. Zero resistance means a short to ground.

Meter should show some resistance between the two hots going down the well. How much resistance depends on wire length and motor windings. No resistance means short between the two hots or short in pump.

How deep is well and what kind of well pipe?

[mtskidds]

Pulled wires from main off switch. Breaker does not trip. Went to well and disconnected the wires from switch at well. Breaker does not trip. Had someone test the wires going down the well and he said they were good. Can a pump being bad trip the breaker.

[hkstroud]

Yes possible, I guess you will have to pull the pump.

[mtskidds]

Yes possible, I guess you will have to pull the pump.

Thanks a lot. I pulled the pump and it is bad. Put new pump in and now we have water. New problem. If the water is not being used for awhile and it is turned on it takes about 3 or 4 minutes to get water from pump to tank after switch calles for pump to turn on at 40 psi then shuts off at 60 psi. . After water get to tank the pump is pumping water quickly pump on at 40 off at 60 in about 2 seconds. The pump has had a built in check valve. There also looks to be one just before the bladder tank. Could a check valve be the problem.

[hkstroud]

3 or 4 minutes to get water from pump

That indicates a leaking check valve or a leaking pipe.
Kind of hard to believe you have two leaking check valves, but it is possible. A leaking check valve at the tank and a leaking well pipe is more likely. A leaking well pipe would allow water to leak out while the pump is idle but that would require air to find its way into the pipe. A leaking pipe would explain the long delay in water reaching the tank. Pump comes on and begins pumping water but half the water goes back down the well. Pump shuts off and water in the pipe continues to leak, but that requires air to enter the pipe or water out of the tank to flow back to the leak. Could be that you have more than one leak in the well pipe.

If air is entering the well pipe, you could be pumping air into the tank with each on/off cycle of the pump. Eventually you could end up with a tank full of air. If that is the case you should eventually get air out the faucet instead of water when you first turn it on.

As far as what appears to be a rapid jump from 40 to 60, that sounds like a ruptured bladder and a water logged tank.
Press the needle on the air valve on the tank for 3 to 5 seconds and see if you get air or water out.

With all the problems you have had, it would probably be best to turn pump off, drain tank and check to insure that you have the correct air charge of 38#.

Go to the well head and listen for sounds of water flowing back down the well when the pump is running. May be able to hear it or may not.
A leak in the pipe between the well and the house should show up as a wet spot in the ground. I say should because it all depends on how deep the pipe is and how dry it has been in your area.

What kind and size is well pipe and how deep is the well?

While it may seem unlikely to have multiple (apparently) unrelated problems, but it does happen. Recently experienced such a situation in repairing lawn tractor and in repairing a lamp

Sometimes you just can't seem to win.

Please post back with findings and progress.