Well-pump issues, any ideas?

[lupinfarm]

Today the well-pump stopped working. The system is brand new, frost free and was running fine and then spluttered like it was going to increase pressure then just dried up.

It has a 100 watt bulb in the pump box inside (submersible system, second part to pump is inside the barn in a box), we did have 3 blackouts in a row, two of them lasting over 5 hours, one over 12 hours.


Our well guy said to put a heater on it, so what we did was put a higher wattage heat bulb in the socket inside rather than putting a heater on it (we don't have one lol). But there has been no difference and the PSI meter still reads 0

Do you guys have any ideas as to what happened? If nothing changes tomorrow morning, we're calling our well guy out, the work on it is covered by gurantee and we have a warranty on the pump.

 

[Beekissed]

This may seem kind of obvious and you probably have already tried it, but didn't mention it in your post. There should be a reset button somewhere on your pump. Sometimes after a power outtage you have to hit this reset button. Its worth a shot, huh?

 

[dacjohns]

This won't solve the problem immediately but I would put heat tape on all exposed pipe and make sure everything possible is insulated.

Is the well running dry a possibility?

 

[lupinfarm]

This won't solve the problem immediately but I would put heat tape on all exposed pipe and make sure everything possible is insulated.

Is the well running dry a possibility?

Not at all, it's a big deep well, and we had a very wet summer. When the house well dried up during a drought, the barn well still had plenty in it.

 

[lupinfarm]

This may seem kind of obvious and you probably have already tried it, but didn't mention it in your post. There should be a reset button somewhere on your pump. Sometimes after a power outtage you have to hit this reset button. Its worth a shot, huh?

Where do you think it'd be located? We have a submersible pump system which doesn't hold water in the standpipe during the winter months.

I couldn't see a reset button on it, but there still could be one.

 

[Beekissed]

I don't know what kind of well pump you may have but take a look at this link for a minute:

http://www.waterwell.cc/m4howto.htm

 

[lupinfarm]

Well, I went down there and found what LOOKS like a Square D cut-off, but there is no lever on the side to reset, it has a small acorn nut on the top at the front, and an electrical warning on the front (sticker).

I'm assuming its a cut-off, but again no lever. Also, it says BII with a maple leaf next to it, so I guess it's a different company. I did some research, and not all cut-offs have levers apparently.

 

[lupinfarm]

OKAY, so it IS the cut-off I'm seeing.

http://soundlutherie.com/wells.html scroll down and you'll see

that is what mine looks like, just we don't have a lever on the side, and it says on top simply, BII with a maple leaf next to it.

Edited to say, it's a Boshart Industries Pressure Switch

 

[FarmerChick]

good chance your contact switch is dead

this happened to me twice.....very simple to replace if that is the problem. since you lost power it could have monkeyed with the contact switch and it is bad now.

if this is the problem it is cheap to fix.....put in a new contact switch and done.

If you don't know what this is......call your pump man and when he comes out and it is the problem, watch very carefully what he does when replacing it....it is definitely something you can do in the future. Tony replaced ours twice with no problems. The water just stops...simple as that until the switch is fixed.

might be the problem, might not..LOL


I checked the webiste you listed....scroll further down and it gives you "what if" the pump is not working....does any scenario fit yours??

 

[lupinfarm]

good chance your contact switch is dead

this happened to me twice.....very simple to replace if that is the problem. since you lost power it could have monkeyed with the contact switch and it is bad now.

if this is the problem it is cheap to fix.....put in a new contact switch and done.

If you don't know what this is......call your pump man and when he comes out and it is the problem, watch very carefully what he does when replacing it....it is definitely something you can do in the future. Tony replaced ours twice with no problems. The water just stops...simple as that until the switch is fixed.

might be the problem, might not..LOL


I checked the webiste you listed....scroll further down and it gives you "what if" the pump is not working....does any scenario fit yours??

I know it does, but the power outage would have caused the cut-off switch to work, which would have switched it off. The thing about that that bothers me is that I DID get water, but it might have been in the bladder and was just what was left over from the power outage. I don't usually look at the pressure gauge, so chances are it was at 0 then and was just draining the bladder in the tank.

For some reason there is no lever on the side of our pressure switch, so i think there are two models. Boshart says to take the cover off, and follow the instructions inside. Thing is, I don't know how to get that off without removing the acorn nut, which is what I assume measures what the cut-off is.

We're going to go down there tomorrow morning and see if we can get the cover off the pressure switch, Boshart says to turn the power back on before following the reset instructions.

http://www.boshart.com/pinfodoc.php?dtl=MDYjI0IjIzAwMw==&ck=41ce11cde579c7e2d77c763d93602855

that is the website/pdf.

You'll see the one with the lever, ours doesn't appear to have a lever. If we can't figure it out, we might ask the well guy to replace it with one with a lever.