Thread: Pump not working; how to troubleshoot

Greetings all,

My first post to the forum.

I have a dug well (probably 20-25ft deep). As of last night we've got no water in the house. Yesterday we ran the well dry (we have cattle and sometimes someone - wouldn't be me forgets to turn off the water. Now this has happened before and, I let the well sit for a bit and it refreshes, then I flip a switch in the cellar and everything is alright. Not this time though. I've turned on and off the circuit breaker. I've opened the top of the well and confirmed that there is now plenty of water. Finally, I've turned the well on and off, multiple times. Nothing.

So, how should I proceed to diagnose this problem? I could go out, with the pump on, open the top of the well and using the rope pull up the pump and see if I hear anything, but, since I have no water in the house, I probably won't.

Is there anything else I can do? One way or the other I've got to get it fixed today as the cows will need water).

Thanks for any help or links,
JR

If this is a submersible pump like I think it is, you may have nuked the impellers. Pumps can't run long without moving water without getting extremely hot and usually impellers melt.

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I just talked to the former owner of the house; he also believes I may have fried it. Strangely though he says that when he replaced it (less than 3 years ago) the guy who did it actually lowered himself into the well! This is strange to me as I'd have figured that the rope tied at the top of the well was how the pump was pulled up. Of course, that leaves about 20 feet of line that would need to come up with it; I'd assume that it would be attached to flexible pipe. Perhaps I really have misunderstood how these things work. I've called the guy who did the work but he wasn't home.

So, am I wrong and I/someone is actually going to have to do down there?

Another question too. Since I'm planning on using this well to water our stock (at least when they are in the first half of the property), should I be thinking about getting a larger capacity pump? The existing pump seemed to do alright, I mean it would take some time to fill up a 100 gallon trough but it was coming through garden hoses for lenghts of 400-500 ft so I'd expect a low flow rate. At some point I've have large diameter permanent line; perhaps it makes more sense to have a larger capacity pump? But then again, maybe, you have to match the pump to the plumbing in the house so the pressure is not too high. I've got to read up on pumps

If you dried up the well, a larger pump is just going to do it faster. A rope is not necessary. Just the pipe the pump hangs on. I would use Poly pipe for a situation like yours. Poly pipe with a 160# rating is ten times stronger than any rope you could lower that pump with.

And why he went down in the well is a mystery to me.

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I would just replace it with a 1/2 or 3/4HP sub hung on poly pipe and also run new poly pipe to the trough. About $50 per 100 feet.

I talked to the guy who put in the pump. He went into the well to disconnect the pipe from where it runs to the house (which is about 5 ft down from ground level. At that point he just pulls it up with the rope.

He should pull it with the pipe not a rope, but to each his own.

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It actually looks like the pipe out to the house is move like 6 ft down in the well. I think I'm going to have to get the guy back to do it; I just don't feel comfortable lowering myself down to disconnect it. He says the pump is going to be about $450-500 (plus labor). Worse than I feared. That price sound right?

I'm going to ask him if he can set it up so that I can pull it up by the pipe in case this happens again (!!).

Thanks for all your advice everyone.

It sounds like a real jerry rigged set up. To begin with, it's a dug well. Secondly, it's setup so going down the well has to be done from what your telling me.

I'm sure with some more jerry rigging, it can be made easier to repair, but I'm not real sure how sanitary it would be.

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