Thread: What's the Problem? Third Well pump 7 years

My house is less than 7 years old and I had to replace my well pump over 2 years ago. Now I am having the same problem and had a plumbling company look at the problem. The problem is that the water when it is turned on, stops running totally. The pressure goes down to 0. The service person checked the pump outside in the well. It is a submersible pump. The serviceman said the well pump needs replacing that it is pulling too many amps. Same problem as before. This will be the third well pump in less than 7 years. The people who replaced the last pump said the pump was sitting too low and pulling in mud. The well is 290 ft. and the pump was set at 200 ft. with water level at 80 ft. I had a severe problem with red water, clay, iron, and it seemed like a good reason that the pump would burn up. I spent $6,000 on a water system to discover, it appears, that the pump was set too low. The water cleared up after installation so I figured they had set the pump higher. However, I noticed that it appears that the last pump paperwork states that the pump was installed at 200 ft. , same as before. The serviceman did check the pressure tank inside with the voltage meter. What should I look for in getting the pump replaced again? Do I need a larger hp?
The current one is 3/4 hp, 230 volts. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

The problem is probably the brand of pump. If the pump was from one of the big box stores, they don't have the best track record.
I have a well that pumps sandy mud with no pump failures.
With a high amp draw it is usually the motor in the pump going bad, not the impellers. So that would at least on the surface rule out the sand problem.
Hanging the pump at 200' should be fine. Most heavy particles will fall to the bottom. When a pump is first placed you will notice additional sediments but should clear in a short while.
What size is your pressure tank? A Cycle Stop Valve or Constant Pressure Valve will allow the pump to stay on longer giving a more even pressure and reducing the cycling of the system. This reduction of cycling will greatly reduce the wear and tear on the pump and tank.
I would contact a well guy not a plumber for help with wells. In most cases plumbers aren't up to the job.
BTW he was probably checking the voltage and amperage at the pressure switch, not the tank. The tank only holds air.
Without knowing the draw of the well, how much water it provides and your uses it is hard to say whether you need a larger pump, but I would suspect the 3/4 hp is fine.
For a quality pump check with Bob on this website. The link is above.

It sounds more like you need a better service man.

You don't have any electricity on your tank. Don't know what he was checking with a voltage meter, but it certainly wasn't the tank.

The fact that your water pressure goes to zero could mean several things. The overload protector in the motor could be tripping which will disable the motor until it cools back down. It could be that the pump is over pumping the well and running out of water temporarily.

It doesn't matter where a pump is in a well as long as it stays wet all the time. There is no mud to be pumped in a properly drilled well, so anyone telling you things like that, be leery of them and their knowledge of wells.

Plumbers are usually not the people who work on pumps and wells. Well Drillers and Pump Professionals are the ones you should be looking for. Plumbers are not generally set up to work on wells and their experience is mostly in the plumbing field, not pump and well.

Don't let the service call charge scare you. Get several opinions then go with the guy with the most knowledge.

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If you are still getting the same quality water you need to have the well properly inspected by a licensed and certified well contractor. You could have a bad grout seal that has water above the bedrock coming into the well. That water can bring in all types of contaminants and will continuously cost you money. You need to have a camera inspection performed to determine where the poor quality water is coming in. A jaswell seal can be installed that will seal off the area that is causing the issue.

Here is a link to one of my web pages that has a video of a camera inspection of a well. It shows a major void that was producing silt. We sealed it off with a jaswell seal and solved the problem. http://tylerwell-pump.com/ourservices.aspx

sammy

www.tylerwellandpump.com

The well pump is a Meyers Pentair 2ST72-8. Actually I had it installed 2 1/2 years ago but really not have lived in the house for about 2 years. There on a daily basis. So the life is much shorter, considering that it has barely been used by a single person.

You probably weren't aware of the fact that Myers who is owned by Pentair Water has built it's own motor along with a joint venture with ITT who owns the other half of the brand name pump companies in the US. Because of the newness of this motor, I won't use any of the brands offered by them. I stick with Betta Flo pumps made in Georgia and still use the Franklin motor.

I don't know that you have one of those motors, but if you do, it might explain that failure. These motors are brand new on the market and not proven field reliable in my opinion.

It would be something to look into if you do in fact have to pull that pump. Check to see if you have the Franklin or the ITT/Pentair motor that goes by at least two different brand names.

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