Power failure

[crown]

We have lived in our home for 3 years now and from time to time have experienced many power flickers the kind that are a nuisance the clocks blink that kind of thing. Last Nov. my well pump died the power company as well as the insurance company say that the power flickers were not the cause and thus they were not going to pay to replace the pump, sadly I went out in the cold with my neighbor and pulled the pump and installled a new one. Just wanted to get the Board's opinion on what may have caused the pump failure. Won't get my money back but will help my peace of mind.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

How old was the pump? Was it a shallow well pump and what brand? Some pumps do just die and I doubt the power going off would do it unless there was a large power surge which would be the only way. Did you have anyone look at the pump to find out what happened to it?

 

[crown]

The pump was only 2+ years old the well is 375 feet deep. My neighbor who is a general contractor says it had the look of one that was struck by lightning. The brand is Sandhandler.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Take it to a repair shop and they should be able to tell you if it was from a power surge then you can go talk to the power company and tell them what you found out and see what they do. A 2 year old pump shouldn't die but all company's do get a couple lemons. Have the shop look at it and go at it from there.
Good luck.

 

[JoeR]

Usually pumps can handle a good amount of surge. Most of the time the starter capacitor will die. At my old house, the power was terrible. The refigerator compressor was the first to die from all the power flickers.

As for lightning, I have experienced that too. I took a lightning hit... Three days later I had silt in my water. The fifth day the motor stopped. I replaced the starter capacitor and the pump started working again. Two days after that I had enough sand in my water that I could have started making beachfront property.

I call the well driller, he tells me lightning hit my well, blew a hole in the casing about 40 feet down. I called my insurance company, and they wanted me to prove the lightning damage by having the well driller back out my well casing. The well driller states the probability of getting the pipe out intact is very slim. I then was gambling that if I can prove the damage I get it paid for. If the pipe breaks, now I have to pay for the pipe being pulled out, and a new well. The insurance company won, I did not want to gamble and take the risk of paying an additional 2,000+ dollars for pulling the old pipe out.

The insurance companies know how to get out of paying!!

Joe

 

[MikePA]

A few years ago our pump was hit by lightning. There were severe storms in the area, but nothing that I thought was particularly close. Didn't know the pump was out until the middle of my shower the next morning! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif My insurance company, State Farm, said to call a local well drilling outfit and get a new pump installed. They came out the same day, pulled the pump (200' down) and could tell by the wires that it had been hit. State Farm was great.

 

[Thomas]

What is the voltage on your pump..120V or 208&203V.

If your pump a 208&230 volts and your power company not giving you enough volts than in period of time you pump shall burn out...its know as brown out or dirty power.
There a couple of choices you can do,have a bigger transformer install,or install 200-208 single phase volt pump.
If you live in area which other are useing equipment like welders etc..that would indeed raise heck w/your voltage to your home..the closer to the electric sud station cleaner the power,and of coarse what I just wrote no power company would admit this could be true,for it would cost them $$$$. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[RobS]

Crown, do you have sprinklers? Around here a lot of pumps go from cycling on and off to much when the lawn sprinklers are running. They are supposed to be adjusted (flow) to keep the pump running continuously. Our neighbor lost a pump after only one year due to this. Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[AndyR]

While it won't help with drops in power, a panel mount or whole-house surge surpressor would help in lightning situations. You can check them out at your local electrical supply outfit or even Lowes of Home Depot. They basically work by clamping the voltage at a set limit and helping to eliminate spikes and transients from motor starts, lightening, line switching and the like. I have seen them run from about $50.00 on up. In general, the heavier duty ones are worth every penny.

 

[ddl]

the only promise that power companies make is that the frequency will be 60 hertz, the voltage will swing around the set voltage. As for the power surges or spikes, these can be caused by neighbors wielding, large motors turning on such as grain blower motors. Remember you are out in the country, in town a lot of these things are controlled through zoning. This is just the fun of country living.

Dan l

 

[gws]

Unless the pump is running when the power flickers, its not likley to be the problem. You may find its not voltage spikes that is the problem but under voltage. Under voltage (low voltage) is hard on motors.

 

[ronjhall]

Jeff
When my neighbors have lost water pumps because of lighting it was from a direct hit on the wellhead. Which caused a lot of arching and burning of the pump, casing and it's wiring. They also lost some items inside of the house by voltage surging back through the wiring into the house wiring.

When I had my pump installed a few years back a surge suppressor was installed to stop this type of lighting strike from back feeding into house.
I hope I never have to find out if it works. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

I have lived here for 30 years and never had a problem inside of house. About 10 years ago the transformer on the pole that supplies my electricity took a direct hit. The fuses on the transformer blew and the transformer had to be replaced. It happened as I was starting my morning coffee pot. Sure did light of the sky around my house. /w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif The noise was like a bomb going off in the house.

There are many things that can cause a pump to go bad.

Cycling on and off to often.
Pressure tank that is water logged or bladder had ruptured.
Pressure switch not mounted close enough to pressure tank.
Pressure switch set to high.
Unequal voltage on power lines.
Loads on main distribution panel not being equal.
Low voltage.
Wrong gage wire feed line to pump.
Also some that I've not heard about.

Is your well new or has it lost a pump before?

Here is a thread that had a lot of information about pressure and flow for a water system. Click <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=rural&Number=34583&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=water%20pressure&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=34583>HERE</A> to check it out.

 

[markinMn]

Jeff, a couple of questions.........Have you taken voltage reads at you main panel? Has the power co. come out and checked all the conections at the transformer and service entrance? Do you have secondary underground wires? Have your neighbors had any equipment or appliance damage during this same time period? Have any of your neighbors had any flickering? Any recent lightening or storms? How old is your wiring? Do you have mechanical connectors or compression connectors on your sec. wires? Pump properly grounded? ............let us know......maybe we can help............mark