Water Well keeps popping the reset button

[stevenf]

Its Monday, I can tell because my day has already started without me, the well is pretty new (3 years old) with a 5hp motor in a 650 foot well a three thousand gallon concrete storage tank and a 10 hp booster pump that I had constructed to be bullet proof its not a good day. The pump will run for about a minute and then kick one of the resets on the bottom of the control box, funny thing is the reset doesn't feel like any reset I've ever messed with when you turn off the breakers and reset it you can feel it just barely click back to on and then turn the breakers back on and the well commences to running into the storage tank for about a minute then the reset pops again. I'm waiting on the well folks to call but I sure hope its just a cheap reset switch or a run capacitor or something and not something that requires pulling the pump out of the well. My day can surely only get better from here.
Steve

 

[stevenf]

Its Monday, I can tell because my day has already started without me, the well is pretty new (3 years old) with a 5hp motor in a 650 foot well a three thousand gallon concrete storage tank and a 10 hp booster pump that I had constructed to be bullet proof its not a good day. The pump will run for about a minute and then kick one of the resets on the bottom of the control box, funny thing is the reset doesn't feel like any reset I've ever messed with when you turn off the breakers and reset it you can feel it just barely click back to on and then turn the breakers back on and the well commences to running into the storage tank for about a minute then the reset pops again. I'm waiting on the well folks to call but I sure hope its just a cheap reset switch or a run capacitor or something and not something that requires pulling the pump out of the well. My day can surely only get better from here.
Steve

 

[_RaT_]

A quick test is to do a amperage test. I have a tester that allows you to simply place the amp meter around one of the conductors and with the pump running get instant readouts on the current the pump is using. If its normal, the reset could be bad, more typical is a pump having issues. Sand, winding in the pump etc.

 

[_RaT_]

A quick test is to do a amperage test. I have a tester that allows you to simply place the amp meter around one of the conductors and with the pump running get instant readouts on the current the pump is using. If its normal, the reset could be bad, more typical is a pump having issues. Sand, winding in the pump etc.

 

[stevenf]

My well folks finally called and we have a first thing tommorrow morning date, they had numerous customers without any water since again its Monday and I have thousands of gallons before I'm done so I didn't mind waiting until tommorrow and getting a first stop rather then wait all afternoon here and hope they don't run into any problems with prior calls or it'd be tommorrow anyway. They are betting on a bad reset or run capacitor as well rather then a well pump issue at this point. I've got an old Gyp well that I'm going to have them get going again while their here so I can use it for irrigation rather then my primary drinking water well. I don't own an amp meter yet I guess I should get one and learn how to use it as it would be nice to be able to trouble shoot this stuff farther then just checking continuity.
Thanks for your response, I'm hoping it'll be above ground still because the bill will be much easier to swallow then if they have to pull 650' of pipe.
Steve

 

[stevenf]

My well folks finally called and we have a first thing tommorrow morning date, they had numerous customers without any water since again its Monday and I have thousands of gallons before I'm done so I didn't mind waiting until tommorrow and getting a first stop rather then wait all afternoon here and hope they don't run into any problems with prior calls or it'd be tommorrow anyway. They are betting on a bad reset or run capacitor as well rather then a well pump issue at this point. I've got an old Gyp well that I'm going to have them get going again while their here so I can use it for irrigation rather then my primary drinking water well. I don't own an amp meter yet I guess I should get one and learn how to use it as it would be nice to be able to trouble shoot this stuff farther then just checking continuity.
Thanks for your response, I'm hoping it'll be above ground still because the bill will be much easier to swallow then if they have to pull 650' of pipe.
Steve

 

[midlf]

Good luck with the service call.

What is a gyp well??

 

[midlf]

Good luck with the service call.

What is a gyp well??

 

[stevenf]

midlf, I can't give you the science but a gyp well around here is a well drilled into a shallow aquifer 50' to 200' deep where the water hasn't passed thru the limestone and been purified and apparently the level that its found at has lots of gypsum as a mineral in the water. The result is MESSY one you can flush the toilet with it but it stains the bowl usually black, two it taste bad kinda skunky like a sulfur water well and the best for last Gypsum is a natural laxative of the run right thru ya sort. A Gyp well is cheap to drill and used today predominantly for watering fields or where non potable water is OK to use it is very corrosive on irrigation equipment but nothing a little Acidic acid won't take care of. Many years ago it was the about the only kinda well you could drill and you just got used to the Gypsum over time but with the advent of people being able to test the water and professional well drillers with heavy equipment to get thru the solid rock layers to get to better water you won't find many wells still active in the Gyp layers if their intention is for drinking.
Steve

 

[stevenf]

midlf, I can't give you the science but a gyp well around here is a well drilled into a shallow aquifer 50' to 200' deep where the water hasn't passed thru the limestone and been purified and apparently the level that its found at has lots of gypsum as a mineral in the water. The result is MESSY one you can flush the toilet with it but it stains the bowl usually black, two it taste bad kinda skunky like a sulfur water well and the best for last Gypsum is a natural laxative of the run right thru ya sort. A Gyp well is cheap to drill and used today predominantly for watering fields or where non potable water is OK to use it is very corrosive on irrigation equipment but nothing a little Acidic acid won't take care of. Many years ago it was the about the only kinda well you could drill and you just got used to the Gypsum over time but with the advent of people being able to test the water and professional well drillers with heavy equipment to get thru the solid rock layers to get to better water you won't find many wells still active in the Gyp layers if their intention is for drinking.
Steve