Andrew P.
Electrical Engineer
I'm doing some handyman work for an acquaintance outside city limits. She has a private well, located about 120 feet from the captive air pressure tank next to her house, and the property is on level ground. She recently asked me to freeze-proof the exposed plumbing, as temperatures in the country often fall several degrees below temperatures in town, and she's had frozen pipes that didn't thaw until mid-afternoon. With an elderly parent living in her house, this situation is intolerable.
Some years ago a short 120V heater cable was attached to the 1-1/2" galvanized pipe at the wellhead, where it is aboveground for about 3 ft. The plug for the cable is dangling free, and there's no place to plug it in. When my dad installed it for the lady about 15 years ago, he remembers that 120V AC continuous power was available at the wellhead then. I'm told that since then there had been a broken pipe, with the pump running nonstop and flooding a neighbor's driveway and garage. In the process of installing an emergency cutoff switch at the wellhead, a local pump service company moved the Square D Pumptrol pressure switch from the wellhead to the pressure tank location, so now only switched power is available at the well. I contacted the company that performed the work to learn why the Pumptrol switch had been moved, but have not been able to get an answer. (Perhaps it's so long ago that no one there remembers doing this job.)
My question: Would there be any adverse effect to moving the pressure switch back to the wellhead, compared to having it next to the pressure tank? I'd expect a slight drop in pressure at the pressure tank due to flow losses in the pipe from the pump to the tank. It now operates between 42 psi (turn on) and 62 psi (turn off), according to the pressure gauge at the tank. If it wouldn't cause erratic operation of the switch and pump motor, that would the preferred solution, instead of having to dig a 120-foot-long trench to lay an additional cable for the heater. The present underground wire conduit is too small and too long to be able to pull additional wires through it.
Some years ago a short 120V heater cable was attached to the 1-1/2" galvanized pipe at the wellhead, where it is aboveground for about 3 ft. The plug for the cable is dangling free, and there's no place to plug it in. When my dad installed it for the lady about 15 years ago, he remembers that 120V AC continuous power was available at the wellhead then. I'm told that since then there had been a broken pipe, with the pump running nonstop and flooding a neighbor's driveway and garage. In the process of installing an emergency cutoff switch at the wellhead, a local pump service company moved the Square D Pumptrol pressure switch from the wellhead to the pressure tank location, so now only switched power is available at the well. I contacted the company that performed the work to learn why the Pumptrol switch had been moved, but have not been able to get an answer. (Perhaps it's so long ago that no one there remembers doing this job.)
My question: Would there be any adverse effect to moving the pressure switch back to the wellhead, compared to having it next to the pressure tank? I'd expect a slight drop in pressure at the pressure tank due to flow losses in the pipe from the pump to the tank. It now operates between 42 psi (turn on) and 62 psi (turn off), according to the pressure gauge at the tank. If it wouldn't cause erratic operation of the switch and pump motor, that would the preferred solution, instead of having to dig a 120-foot-long trench to lay an additional cable for the heater. The present underground wire conduit is too small and too long to be able to pull additional wires through it.
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