Hot tub wired in, trouble with well afterwards

[rollinsauto]

About 3 weeks ago we had a hot tub wired in. A day or two after the hot tub was wired in, we had no water. We called the electrician and he found that he had made a mistake and it had burnt a contact in our control box for our well. He called a pump and well expert in. Instead of replacing the contact, they replaced the entire control box.

About a week after the control box was replaced we lost water again. My husband went out to the control box and found a wire that was not installed correctly and had popped out. He stated it was a major ground wire. He repaired the wire and we had water again.

A week later, we lost water again. My husband had to press the two reset buttons on the control box and again we had water. This happened again two days ago.

My husband called the electrician that had wired the hot tub, the electrician called the well and pump establishment that had put the new control box in. Today the establishment went out to look at it. He was pretty confident before looking at anything it was our pump. After going out to our place, the well and pump establishment stated we needed a new pump because the electrician wired the hot tub wrong and caused the bearing in the pump to go out. Can this happen? Can he know a bearing is going out without pulling up the pump?

We had not had any issues with our pump before this. The pump was replaced approximately 15 years ago. Any help or tips would be much appreciated.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

I can't think of many ways to damage a well pump, and it makes me even more curious because the hot tub and well pump must be wired completely separate from one another in the panel, each being fed from their own breaker. If the electrician wired the pump wrong, you shouldn't have had water from the beginning. An electrician should not however need a well pump company to diagnose a problem with the pump controls, so I do question whether he really is a licensed electrician.

What your husband described with the "ground wire" does not make any sense either, because the equipment will all run normally without a ground wire.

I would never be surprised that a 15 year old well pump failed, but it is a funny coincidence that it did not have a problem until now.

 

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[rollinsauto]

I can't think of many ways to damage a well pump, and it makes me even more curious because the hot tub and well pump must be wired completely separate from one another in the panel, each being fed from their own breaker. If the electrician wired the pump wrong, you shouldn't have had water from the beginning. An electrician should not however need a well pump company to diagnose a problem with the pump controls, so I do question whether he really is a licensed electrician.

What your husband described with the "ground wire" does not make any sense either, because the equipment will all run normally without a ground wire.

I would never be surprised that a 15 year old well pump failed, but it is a funny coincidence that it did not have a problem until now.

The electrician had to rewire everything at the main fuse box because it was so old. The day we went without water after he wired the hot tub he had said his mistake was he had wired a single phase, rather than a dual phase and that was what burnt the contact in the control box for the pump. He found his problem but called in the well and pump establishment to replace the contact but instead they replaced the entire control box.

We have called another well and pump establishment to get a second opinion and will be out there today. I will update after I hear from them.

We find it to be a funny coincidence also!

 

[Valveman]

15 years? Yeah probably a coincidence. But nobody is really going to know, especially if a bearing is out, until you get it out of the hole so you can inspect it. Wiring it 115V or 230V won't make any difference on a bearing? As long as nobody wired around the pressure switch, wiring should make no difference to the bearing.

 

[rollinsauto]

15 years? Yeah probably a coincidence. But nobody is really going to know, especially if a bearing is out, until you get it out of the hole so you can inspect it. Wiring it 115V or 230V won't make any difference on a bearing? As long as nobody wired around the pressure switch, wiring should make no difference to the bearing.

So, you think it's just coincidence and the pump is going out? I'm just trying to understand. The water stopped working after the electrician wired the hot tub. The electrician came back out and stated that because he wired single phase instead of dual phase it burnt a contact on the control box. The box was replaced by a well and pump establishment and we have been having intermittent problems since it was replaced.

The well and pump establishment was hasty in stating that the electrician was at fault. That I don't know or want to speculate.

Is there a way to know it's a bearing before pulling the pump out? We don't understand how the electrical issues could burn a bearing out.

I could be wrong on the time frame since we replaced the pump.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

My next thought would be to question if the controller they installed is the right one for the pump or not.

 

[rollinsauto]

My next thought would be to question if the controller they installed is the right one for the pump or not.

Our thoughts exactly.

We had another well and pump establishment come out that we have used since the 70's for a second opinion and they stated everything was working properly.

 

[rollinsauto]

How can we find out if it is the correct controller for our pump?

Sorry for the silly questions, we know vehicles, not wells and pumps.

 

[Reach4]

How can we find out if it is the correct controller for our pump?

Guess you did not get a model number from the old control box, right?

 

[rollinsauto]

Guess you did not get a model number from the old control box, right?

We actually have the old control box. I will look at it tonight when I get home. I am at our automotive shop right now.

 

[Valveman]

If the pump will not run, you cannot tell anything about the bearing until you physically inspect it. If the motor shaft stick up height is lower than 1.5" the bearing got hot, like if wired direst without a pressure switch. Wiring the pressure switch to 115V instead of 230V should not cause a bearing to go out.