Pressure switch wiring?

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Reach4

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Thanks for the replies. I will try to gets some pics and post tomorrow as the pressure tank and switch are outside in a pit where access to the well is. The wires are running through two different conduits. The 3 wires running to the pump in one conduit and a black, white and ground wire running in a seperate conduit to the pressure switch. My concern is the one wire that runs from the breaker directly to the pump. Does that mean the pump is constantly running on one leg and using power all the time?
It does not.

Usually you want the pressure switch to interrupt both hot legs. What may have happened is that originally there was a 115 volt pump, and the pressure switch was not rewired when the 230 volt pump was put in.

What wires are going to the pressure switch?
 

Wrowe

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Does it look something like this? If so, that would be an old Red Jacket Watt Knot. Basically just an old school surge protector. No, you do not need it for your pump to run. Your motor almost certainly has a built in lightning arrestor but additional surge protection is never a bad idea.

Yes, it is similiar to that and there was also a lightning arrestor attached to the side of the breaker box that was wired directly to the breakers.
 

Wrowe

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The first wire goes from one side of the double breaker to the pressure switch, then back to a junction box where it connects to the red wire of the pump. The second wire goes from the other side of the double breaker into the junction box where it connects to the black wire going to the pump. The yellow wire from the pump connects to the common bar in the breaker. Its been hooked up this way for years with no issues until recently when the pressure switch shorted out and melted. I believe this was caused by the pump cycling for quite a while as I recently found that the copper pipe under the concrete foundation has corroded and been leaking for god knows how long. I suspect this is because they did not encase the copper pipe in any type of conduit and laid it directly in the concrete.
 

Valveman

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Its been hooked up this way for years with no issues until recently when the pressure switch shorted out and melted. I believe this was caused by the pump cycling for quite a while as I recently found that the copper pipe under the concrete foundation has corroded and been leaking for god knows how long. I suspect this is because they did not encase the copper pipe in any type of conduit and laid it directly in the concrete.

That is usually the cause of failure.
 
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