Irrigation well pump died, what to do?

[stevenf]

I've got 2 wells on the ranch 1 is our drinking water well that is drilled to 650' and has a 4,000 gallon storage tank in reserve. We are very happy with it and the water other then being hard is very good. My irrigation well is much shallower probably 200' or so, it is the original well and do to its depth is refered to here as a gyp well the water is full of gypsum and undrinkable do to its natural laxative tendencies. It was used by the original landowners to wash dishes and flush toilets they hauled in their drinking water. I used it to irrigate up until a year or so ago but it stopped working, I suspect it needs to be completely replaced. Does anyone have any better ideas then just replace it with another submersible pump, like one of those jet pumps or something that might me more user serviceable. The well drillers around here that I've talked to indicate around a thousand worst case to get it back up and running, and thats if they indeed have to replace pump, wire and pvc pipe and even some of the top side controls.
Steve

 

[JJT]

I'd drop another submersible in, if you can do the work yourself and reuse the existing piping and wire you should be able to keep it under $300-$400. That's for a quality 1Horse pump and a heat shrink wiring splice kit. $1000 to have someone else do the job sounds about right. You'll need a friend to help you pull the existing pump, although I've pulled them 200-300 feet by myself. 300' of 1' plastic pipe full of water weighs more than you think. Setting it is an easy 1 person job. If you have steel pipe, spend the money and let the pro's do the job.

 

[stevenf]

After talking to different well drillers in the area it sounds like putting a submersible pump back is the best. I'm a little concerned that the company I used to do my big well responded back with a price possibility of almost double at $2,000 so now I get to wonder are my guys shooting straight and the other guys are low balling until they get it spread out on the surface and discover everything wrong that my original guys guess might need to be replaced and up the bill accordingly or are my guys busy and priced it accordingly since they are the best and very busy. None of them will give me a set price on repairing it until they come out and collect their first $75 just for showing up and even then their quotes I've been told are bassed on what they think will be needed to repair it but if they find more they charge more. I can't blame them, a lot could be wrong in 200 feet of old pvc pipe and wire much less the pump which I'm betting I fried.
Steve

 

[Egon]

What might be the size and output of the pump being replaced? This can effect the price. Also all pumps are not created equally with some being built to much higher standards.

There is a fair chance the old pump will need to be replaced. The laxative inducing minerals may have percipitated out and adhered to low pressure areas of the pump.

Egon :

 

[stevenf]

Egon, just got in from looking at it again, its a 1hp submersible with a franklin electric controller. One of the well guys said that I might possibly have just a reset button to push. No such luck, the controller box and capacitors all look reasonably new and both the capacitors (round cylinders in the control box that look like capacitors) look good and no swollen sides or anything that looks burnt its all bright and shiny copper including all the contacts. I'm sure there are some simple checks that I could do to see if its the pressure switch, pump, controller or what but I haven't had the well folks offer any gems of wisdom. I guess its not really in their best interest to be giving out troubleshooting instructions for free besides in this day and age with all the sue happy idiots out there they'd probably be smart not to have their customers poking around on electrical stuff. If anyone out there has any words of wisdom I'm all ears, the same well bunch that said check for a reset button did say that I could pick up a controller anywhere and eliminate that part of the equation but surely short of going out and buying a replacement there should be a way to check capacitors at least, I'd think that if I pulled the leads and checked continuity at least I could tell that a complete circuit exist. Same goes for the pump if I knew what to check for at least I'd know what to plan on having to pay them to replace even if it was beyond my comfort limits to actually do it.
Steve

 

[Egon]

Steven:

A site that may help.

web page

Egon

 

[GaryQWA]

With the manual here and a multi meter and amp meter, you can troubleshoot it yourself. Just be careful, especially with capacitors.

Gary
Quality Water Associates