Well pump suddenly stopped working-why?

[PeteHog]

Hi there, I just bought this house a couple of months ago and am totally new to wells & pumps. Here is the situation, hopefully you can give me some hints on what is going on:
Tank: Well X Trol stand model WX 203. Located below house (crawlspace)
Pump: have not been able to locate it so far. Could hear it when it used to work
Well: don't know how deep. Assuming its a shallow well groundwater pumping system, that is common around here (Atlanta, Georgia)
Until this afternoon, everything worked fine. No problem in pressure whatsoever. Then, I started watering the lawn with one hose, and filling the pool with the other hose. Did that for about 30 minutes. Suddenly, from one minute to the other, there is no pressure. When I check the tank, the pressure is almost zero. I checked the fuses in the house, and the ones for the well are not blown, but they are warmer then the other fuses. I do not hear the pump running anymore. No waterpressure at all in the whole house. Again, this is the first time this has happened. We have had sometimes some black slick in the filter, which has caused us to change the filter every month or so.
Being totally new to this, I don't know if the tank is the problem, or the pump, or the pipe. Or is the well dry? We have extensive drought...
Any guidance / help is appreciated. I will call a professional tomorrow, however, I would feel more comfortable to have some other points of view, due to obvious reasons...
thanks, Peter

 

[Jadnashua]

You may have run the water down to below the intake of the pump. If so, if you turn off things, it will recover. You may not have enough flow to keep both of those open constantly (or maybe even one). Your pump may have a low-pressure cutoff, so it may have tripped once it couldn't pump any water. Otherwise, it may have burned itself out - unless the pump is cooled by passing water through it, it doesn't take long for it to burn up.

Check for a switch that is tripped, including circult breakers (if you have them, you mentioned fuses). Also, make sure that the fuses are good. If you are lucky, the overload on the pump (if I'm right) may have tripped the fuses before it froze up. More likely that it is frozen. Hopefully, one of the well guys will have some less expensive propositions that solve your problem.

 

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[Valveman]

Valveman

If you have a low pressure cut off switch you will find it in the pipe at the bottom of the WX 203 tank. Little grey box with wires coming out. There will be a small brass lever on the side of this switch. Hold the lever about half way up and the pump will start. Hold the lever in this position until the pressure is higher than 20 PSI, then you can release it. Not sure this is your problem though. If the fuses are still warm the pump may be trying to start every 5 minutes or so and the over load in the motor is tripping right back out. If this is the case you killed the pump filling the pool with a hose. When you run water for an extended period of time, the pump must remain running continuously, not keep turning off and on. This off and on process is called a cycle and your pump hates doing that and is only capable of a certain amout of cycling before it is destroyed. The only way to eliminate cycling is to always run enough water that the pump stays on, or to use a Cycle Stop Valve so it stays running even if you are just using one or two hoses.

 

[PeteHog]

thanks for the reply. I looked at the tank again, its actually a 202. There is a little grey box attached to the incoming pipe, with power coming in and going out. the box is labeled with "pumptrol". There is no pressure switch on the box though. I can open the cover and see how the wires are attached. There is a spring, with a screw on top, would that be the switch?

 

[Valveman]

Valveman

Yep that is the pressure switch. If it does not have the little lever sticking out the side it is not a low pressure kind. If you are very careful, because it is 240 volts, you can open and close the points on this switch by prying up on the plate that is below the springs. When you turn loose the points will touch and the pump should start. These points in your pressure switch could be burned from cycling on and off too much. If it just sparks and the pump does not start, you have other problems. If you are lucky there is a control box on the wall with a capacitor and a relay in it. (means it is a 3 wire pump not 2 wire) This box is used to start the pump and could be your problem. I would never pull a pump until I tried another start box. If this box is your problem it is from cycling on and off too much.

 

[PeteHog]

the repair guy was just here. he had to replace the control box on top of the well, everything else seems to be in good order. he will give me a quote for a larger tank, which then should enhance the life time of my pump...
thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it

 

[Valveman]

Valveman

Larger tank only slows down the cycling. Twice the size of tank, half the number cycles, but still cycles. Even with the tank you have, a Cycle Stop Valve will completely stop the cycling while you are filling a pool or running a hose.

 

[Speedbump]

Buy yourself a Cycle Stop Valve and save the price of a bigger tank and protect your pump better than with the bigger tank.

bob...