Testing a well pump starter

   / Testing a well pump starter
  • Thread Starter
#21  
Phil I am a one man band (not countin the wife daughter and 2 grand kids that i live with) I don't worry about service i do it all my self with their help tom

Me too tom. I really appreciate the info you and the others, especially Kays Supply, have been posting! Hope to learn this weekend if a new pump is in our (near) future. On the one hand, I can't afford it. On the other... well, you do what you gotta do. And I'd save some propane not running that 10K gen to pump water.

Phil
 
   / Testing a well pump starter #22  
If you go back with poly, be sure and check the rating. It is pressure rated. The depth of your pump will have a direct relation to the pressure needed to reach ground level plus the pressure you want at your taps. You will want poly rated at well over the pressure needed at the pump. The poly has advantages over the PVC if you can use it at your pressure. It is much more do-it-yourself friendly. It will also take friction better if the well has a few rocks that the pipe might rub on.
 
   / Testing a well pump starter
  • Thread Starter
#23  
Just a follow up, especially for tom and Kays Supply.

I visited our local pump company this morning. They tested the starter/controller. Bad news: it's good.

So they are ordering the Grundfos 6 SQF-2 and installing it next week. Best price I found for the pump was at Backwoods for $1795, he's charging $1850. The controller CU200 is $320 online, he's charging $350. Add some shipping and he's the same price. If he'd been a thousand dollars more, I'd have bought online and let him install. As it is, the installation labor ($650) seems reasonable and since he's supplying the pieces/parts if there's a problem, it'll be their problem. IOW I won't be paying the labor a second time for some little problem 300' deep.

PLUS... if something goes REALLY wrong (as in the pump/pipe falling to the bottom of the well) that'll ALSO be their problem. I won't be asking my friends to show up with 57 wire coathangers each.

And once I factor in chiropractor and prescription expenses, I should be coming out ahead by NOT doing it myself.

And tom, I figured I'd be explaining to them what exactly this pump is/does. Instead, I mentioned "Grundfos" and he printed an invoice for a customer he installed one for 2 weeks ago, and said he's done at least a half-dozen SQFlexes this year and thinks that they are GREAT pumps.

And to answer my original topic question: to test, take it to a local company and they'll put it on their test machine. That was after he did what I first did: look for someplace the smoke got out, then smell it.

Thanks for all your help!

Phil
 
   / Testing a well pump starter #24  
That is good / bad news I put a solid state relay in front of the cu200 to eliminate any load when I wasn't pumping because the box has a contacts in it for a float switch and i havent got that part of the project done yet.

tom
 
   / Testing a well pump starter
  • Thread Starter
#25  
That is good / bad news I put a solid state relay in front of the cu200 to eliminate any load when I wasn't pumping because the box has a contacts in it for a float switch and i havent got that part of the project done yet.

tom


PM coming at you. I don't understand your relay.

Phil
 
   / Testing a well pump starter
  • Thread Starter
#26  
Just an update: the 6sqf-2 Grundfos pump with the CU200 controller was installed a week ago and it works GREAT.

When the old pump reached the surface it was easy to see the problem: the motor was no longer attached to the impellers. And the shaft between them had broken, trying to pump on a different axis.

I had to engineer a relay in order to use the pump pressure switch to turn the pump on and off. The "cistern float switch" that comes with the CU200 is open when pumping and closes when it floats... just the opposite of a pressure switch. But a trip to radio shack and $10 worth of parts and it's working great.

Phil
 
   / Testing a well pump starter #27  
I used to be in the well business. Glad you got yours fixed.

BTW: Those control boxes are sold at the big box stores. Buy a 1-HP Franklin and it should work for 1-HP and below pumps. You just swap the lids out, no wires. If it still doesn't work, the problem lies somewhere else.
 

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