Hello and thank you all for this forum and any help the experts here can provide.
Trying to determine the cause of a well pump, well pump motor, or electrical problem.
The quick summary is a Pumptec box cutting out on OVERload for the last couple weeks, but most recently cutting out on UNDERload. Read on for details...
System summary:
Well Depth = 500 feet
Well Pump Depth = 480 feet
Water level in well (ranges from 250 feet down to about 350 feet down depending on usage
Well Pump: Grundfos 5S10-22 4" SP (installed new 10 months ago)
Well Pump Motor: Franklin Electric 1 HP, 230v, 2 wire, 4 inch SS, model #2445089003 (installed new 10 months ago)
Well Pump Breaker: 20 amp
Square D 40-60 pressure switch, model #9013FSG2 (14 years old)
Pumptec Pump Protection System (installed new 10 months ago. Inline after the pressure switch)
Wellxtrol WX205 Pressure Tank (14 years old)
The Problem:
The well pump and motor have been working fine since they were installed new about 10 months ago. A couple weeks ago the Pumptec box began to cut out on OVERload (flashing yellow light). The well still has plenty of water. Turn off the well pump electrical power switch for 5 seconds, turn it back on and the pump resumes again no problem. This has been happening randomly maybe one or two times a day the last couple weeks, same quick fix each time, turn power off and right back on. So the well pump installer came out (service call under warranty since it's less than a year old), put an amp meter on one of the pressure switch power lines, turned on a bunch of faucets in the house to make the well pump run continuously, for the first 4-5 minutes of running the amps were in the 7.3-8 amp range (normal for this Franklin motor), but then after about 6 minutes of running the amps began to climb higher and then jumped about 1 amp per second until the Pumptec cut the power off. (there is still plenty of water in the well)
So the well pump installer says the well pump motor (and maybe pump head) is no good, okay so it's less than a year old so it is under warranty (both the pump/motor and labor). But wait, in the next sentence the installer (business owner) says it got hit by lighting so nothing is under warranty. When asked how he knew it was lighting, he just assumes that's what it is (meanwhile the pump & motor are still in the well, nothing yet pulled up for a physical check). Nothing else in the house (including a bunch of computers, other electronics, etc. is malfunctioning, it's hard to simply accept lightning as the cause without further research.
So now the installer won't pull the pump without charging the labor AND the cost of the motor because he thinks lightning was the cause (hopefully the pump head is still good). He said he has to take the pump and motor back to the distributor for them to check if it was hit by lighting or just a mechanical failure. If found to be lightning no warranty (charges apply, that's understandable), but if mechanical failure then the installer said he will refund both the cost of the pump/motor AND the labor to replace it since it's only 10 months old. He said it could take weeks for the OEM to bench test it and determine the cause of failure (seems like a lot of trouble for a huge manufacturer to go through on a $400 motor). How would I even know what the report comes back at? At this point I would have already paid for both the labor and a new pump/motor for the second time in just 10 months, am I to have faith that the installer is just going to give money back if found not to be lighting? Is this the normal course of action for a warranty claim? Do distributors/OEMs really give their customers (the pump installers) a hard time warrantying a $400 motor and $600 pump head under a year old?
So feeling as though the installer was using lightning as an excuse to get around having to warranty the labor, it was time to check into things and do some tests.
Test #1 - Check the pressure switch to make sure voltage is okay on both power lines. The Square D pressure switch is 14 years old, the far right side contact is pretty well burnt out, the other 3 contacts look okay. The volt meter was reading 120v on each power side (even the burnt contact) and then when the pressure switch was on (calling for water) it was reading 240v (as expected). Holding the volt meter on the pressure switch terminals for about 5 minutes during continuous well pump running, the voltage on the two well pump motor leads held steady at 240v.
*Plan on replacing the pressure switch anyhow because that right side contact is burnt and doesn't look so good. But it does not appear that the pressure switch is at fault. The Pumptec is installed after the pressure switch and the Pumptec is NOT cutting out on under or over voltage (only on overload).
Test #2 - Put the amp meter on one of the power wires in the pressure switch. Turned a bunch of faucets on to make the well pump run continuously. Amps held steady around 7.3 - 7.8 amps for the first 5 minutes of running. At about 6 minutes the amps began to start climbing slowly (about 0.1 amps per 5 seconds), then once it got to around 9 amps the amps started going up faster and eventually jumping a full 1 amp almost every second until the amp meter showed around 17 - 19 amps and the Pumptec kicked out on OVERload (flashing yellow light).
So for the quick fix, immediately turned power off, then right back on, the PumpTec started flashing green as normal running and the pump started working fine again until the pressure tank reached it's required 60 lbs - which at this time only required the well pump to run for about 30 seconds to a minute so it didn't kick out on overload. Seems as though the pump needs to be running continuously for a good few minutes for the amps to climb.
Test #3 - bypass the Pumptec microcomputer (opened the Pumptec box and connected the power lines from pressure switch and well pump motor directly together at a terminal in the Pumptec box).
Put the amp meter on one of the power lines inside the PumpTec box, opened the faucets and began the test again. Amps held steady around 7.9 - 8.1 amps (slightly higher than when testing at the pressure switch) but seemed not too big of a difference in amps to get concerned. After about 5 minutes of the well pump continuously running, amps began to slowly rise, then quickly rise up to about 16-18 amps at which point I manually turned the power off right away.
Okay, so it does seem like there is an issue with the well pump motor - or the electrical wiring leading from inside the house to outside and down the well (hopefully the well pump head is fine).
NOW HERE IS THE STRANGE PART...
For the last couple weeks the Pumptec has been cutting out on OVERload (flashing yellow light). A simple power off, power on at least gets the water coming again until the next time it happens. The last couple days however, now the Pumptec is cutting out on UNDERload (solid yellow light). Now I'm really confused. Amps were going up after 5 minutes of running when tested with the amp meter which makes sense to get the previous OVERloads on the Pumptec. But now it's doing UNDERloads on the Pumptec, hhhmmm what to think?
Does it sound like the well pump motor is going bad? but if it was lightning shouldn't the motor just be done/toast/no power cycling to get it going again? or does this sound like it's something else electrically? pressure switch? (seems unlikely since volts read correctly - but that burnt right side contact is cause for concern at least visually).
If the well pump/motor needs to be pulled out should another well pump installer be used? (as multiple conversations with the original installer doesn't go anywhere, he won't do the labor under warranty since he thinks it's lightning as the cause). On that note, what should typical labor cost to pull/replace a well pump/motor in a 500 foot well - 20 foot PVC lengths threaded together (easy access on property).
Thank you for reading this mini novel haha. Any help is greatly appreciated!
