Lightning strike = dead pump? / Poly pipe good or bad for very cold Michigan weather

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NaterBaiter

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Hey guys, I'm in Northern Michigan and have zero experience in well plumbing. I've done a good amount of plumbing with city water. This past Friday, we had a wicked storm with tons of lightning. Woke up Saturday morning to no water what so ever. Crawled in crawl space to discover (sorry if verbage isn't exact I'm a newbie) the submersible motor control panel humming and the black cylinder (I was told it was like a starter/relay that powers well pump) exploded. The unit says 1/2 HP but the previous owner who installed the well swears it's a 3/4 and that he just threw a 1/2 in there because it's all he could find (it worked for the whole year and a half we've lived here) I went to Menards and got a new 3/4 HP unit and new pressure switch. I installed both and still nothing. Pretty sure it's the actual pump due to lightning strike (if you think I should check something else PLEASE let me know, I'd like to save the $1,000 I'll have to spend).

Previous owner told me the "drop line" is PVC piping. Can I opt to use poly piping instead of PVC? Or is poly pipe not advised because of the extremely cold winters here. Thanks in advance

Nate
 

2stupid2fixit

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Need to know if its a 2 or 3 wire pump. Because you mention a control panel, I going on a limb and guessing it is a 3 wire pump.

the differences:
a TWO wire pump will have two wires with about 120 volts on each wire, and a probably but not always a ground wire. Even though 3 separate wires come off the pump, we call it a two wire pump because the motor uses only 2 wires unless something has gone very wrong.

A THREE wire pump puts the motor start up electronics (resistors, capacitors) at ground level or better and these components can be serviced without bringing the pump to the surface.

A lightning strike could have damaged your pump or its electronics, it happens. Looks like you have a 3 wire and maybe something as simple and cheap as a bad start capacitor or a melted resistor.

If your setup is a two wire pump, then you will need to measure resistance to see if your supply electricity is hitting an open part of the circuit. If your setup is 3 wire it may be more obvious, like taking the cover off the control box reveals a big capacitor thats burned and looks like a hot dog that was forgotten in a running for broke microwave oven. Let us know what you think you have. Photos are welcome.

About poly pipe/pvc etc: need know how far down into the earth the pump is hung. Helps to know how deep overall the well is too.

You may save money doing it yourself. Or...if you are lucky enough to find an honest and reputable well company, they should have the knowledge and tools on the truck to figure these questions out very quickly. Just remember if you decide to disconnect the pump down the hole from whatever holds it nice and snug up here on earth, you run the risk of losing the pump down the hole and adding $10,000 or more to the job cost.
 
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Valveman

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Lightning does hit submersible pumps. However, if you didn't lose a microwave, TV, or any other appliance, lightning may have just been a coincidence. Normally lightning blows a hole in the side of the motor in the well. But lightning can come out anywhere in a pump system. Start capacitor is only in the circuit for a spit second on each start. The chance of the capacitor being in the circuit the same time as lightning strikes is very rare. Most capacitors are blown from the pump cycling on and off too much, not lightning. Either way, if replacing the control box did not work, something is most likely wrong with the motor.

Nothing wrong with poly pipe, and it is easier to DIY. But even rigid sch 80 PVC can be pulled all at one time without disconnecting at the joints. Just don't bend it very much at the threaded connections and lay it across the yard.

If you don't find a hole in the upper part of the motor I believe cycling, not lightning burned up your pump. If that is the case you can solve that problem by adding a Cycle Stop Valve.
 
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