Lightning Strike: submersible pump works intermittently

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CountryBoy19

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Our house (actually a tree right outside the garage) was hit by lightning last week. Since then I've been experiencing very weird behavior from a submersible pump that is in a buried rainwater collection tank.

I think it's a 10 gpm (or higher) because it normally puts out a lot of flow. With 2 frost free hydrants running unrestricted it still pumps enough to kick the switch on/off normally.

Now, it flows but not as much volume and it cycles on/off almost cyclically. It will kick on for about 45 seconds until pressure gets to about 15 psi then it shuts off and stays off until the pressure has been at 0 for a while and the flow completely stops. Flow will be stopped anywhere from 10 seconds to 5 minutes then the pump will kick on randomly and repeat.

The symptoms initially pointed me to a possible faulty pressure switch but that wasn't it. I've monitored the voltage coming out of the switch through several of these cycles. It never varies more than a volt and the switch never kicks off.

I know I will probably have to dig up the tank access and replace the pump. But I'm curious, is there anything that can possibly explain this behavior? Any chance the pump doesn't need replaced?
 
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Valveman

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I am afraid you have a pump problem. It is tripping an overload in the motor. This overload is auto-resetting and the pump just comes back on after a few minutes of cooling off. Check the amps. Going to be drawing more than max amps.
 

CountryBoy19

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I am afraid you have a pump problem. It is tripping an overload in the motor. This overload is auto-resetting and the pump just comes back on after a few minutes of cooling off. Check the amps. Going to be drawing more than max amps.
That's what I was afraid of. The more I thought about it as I was writing it all out the more I thought that was the likely culprit.
 

Reach4

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Talk to your homeowner's insurance agent.
 
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