snowmelt
Mechanical Engineer
Recently purchased a cabin in September at higher elevation where its not easy to do well system work until the snow melt in spring. We have used the system about 4 times for between 3 to 7 days at a time. Usually the water quality is very clean, but this weekend it had some brown setiment. The recovery rate of the system is slow, but we have never previously run the system out of water. After lunch I found no water in the kitchen to wash up. We figure the well has about 133 Gallons of water that takes about 8hr to refil. No showers or large water usage so I don't believe the well was dry.
Troubleshooting:
Checked the main breaker in the electrical panel - OK
Pressure in pressure tank showed 15 psi (shutoff setpoint is ~40psi) - switch is closed
Pumptec protector has power light on, protection light off
Check line voltage down to pump control box and L1/L2 reads just under 230V at the controller input
Pump controller is STA-RITE Model VIP4D02-07, Date Code 1F06X
Followed troubleshooting inside panel, tested winding res, rd/Yw 7.1, bl/yw 6.4, rd/bl 12.7, test rd/bl/yw to casing and all >2Mohm
Tested relay between terminals 2&5, 5.03Kohm, between 1&2, 0
Tried testing the capacitors but I don't see them go to 0 and then drift back, seem I get a number about 1000 ohm lower that drifts up to Mohm range on the start cap and roughly 2-5Mohm on the run cap.
After reinstalling the control panel the system fired up and reached pressure setpoint and the pump shut off. After draining pressure back to 20 psi, no water with the same system conditions. Not sure what type of pump is down in the well, the only info I have is a sticker on the control panel above the run cap that states 230V 3/4 hp. The rev sticker shows 11/90 which I assume means Nov, 1990. The control box is in good shape and all the componets and troubleshooting docs are in good condition, some small corrosion on the bottom of the run cap.
No tech will come out until spring and I would like to use the cabin for the rest of the winter. Is it worth the $100 to buy a replacement controller and see if that gets me through or just board up until spring until a tech can look at it?
Troubleshooting:
Checked the main breaker in the electrical panel - OK
Pressure in pressure tank showed 15 psi (shutoff setpoint is ~40psi) - switch is closed
Pumptec protector has power light on, protection light off
Check line voltage down to pump control box and L1/L2 reads just under 230V at the controller input
Pump controller is STA-RITE Model VIP4D02-07, Date Code 1F06X
Followed troubleshooting inside panel, tested winding res, rd/Yw 7.1, bl/yw 6.4, rd/bl 12.7, test rd/bl/yw to casing and all >2Mohm
Tested relay between terminals 2&5, 5.03Kohm, between 1&2, 0
Tried testing the capacitors but I don't see them go to 0 and then drift back, seem I get a number about 1000 ohm lower that drifts up to Mohm range on the start cap and roughly 2-5Mohm on the run cap.
After reinstalling the control panel the system fired up and reached pressure setpoint and the pump shut off. After draining pressure back to 20 psi, no water with the same system conditions. Not sure what type of pump is down in the well, the only info I have is a sticker on the control panel above the run cap that states 230V 3/4 hp. The rev sticker shows 11/90 which I assume means Nov, 1990. The control box is in good shape and all the componets and troubleshooting docs are in good condition, some small corrosion on the bottom of the run cap.
No tech will come out until spring and I would like to use the cabin for the rest of the winter. Is it worth the $100 to buy a replacement controller and see if that gets me through or just board up until spring until a tech can look at it?
