Pump only staying on couple of secs at a time

[wlf89]

got a 10JV1S4-2w230 submersible well pump 175-200ft deep, that started acting up the other day. the water had stopped and gauge was on zero pulled the lever up on pressure switch to restart it and the pump only runs 1-2secs and stops, gauge gets up to around 30psi. the pump dont turn right back on but after about 30secs i can move lever again and it will pump another 1-2 secs.

changed the switch and didnt help, pulled pump the pump looking for a bad wire or something but im getting gettting full volts to the pump and wires looked good.

put pump in trash can of water and hooked a wire up to the pump and it runs good. put a piece of pipe with a gauge on the pump and it builds up to almost 200psi. in the trash can it continues to run as long as i want it to

anyone have any ideas what i should check next?

 

[Reach4]

Your pump seems appropriately sized.

the pump only runs 1-2secs and stops, gauge gets up to around 30psi. the pump dont turn right back on but after about 30secs i can move lever again and it will pump another 1-2 secs.

1. What is the pressure switch set for, 40/60 psi?
2. If you hold the lever on the pressure switch to keep the pump on, what happens? Don't go run the pump down the hole just for that test, however.

put pump in trash can of water and hooked a wire up to the pump and it runs good.

How long will it run, while recirculating the water back to the trash can?

If your casing is 5 inches or more (and you have a little clearance between the pump and the pitless if you have one), add a flow inducer sleeve on the pump.

 

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[wlf89]

Your pump seems appropriately sized.

1. What is the pressure switch set for, 40/60 psi?
2. If you hold the lever on the pressure switch to keep the pump on, what happens? Don't go run the pump down the hole just for that test, however.

How long will it run, while recirculating the water back to the trash can?

If your casing is 5 inches or more (and you have a little clearance between the pump and the pitless if you have one), add a flow inducer sleeve on the pump.

it ran for a minute or more before i turned it off in the trash can. overheating is not my issue, but im not sure what is. even after being off overnight the symptoms are still the same.

when i moved the lever before pulling the pump i could hear water rushing into my pressure tank and the gauge would move and then it would quit, not sure if pump was quiting or it just wasnt pumping water still. the well has plenty of water and the intake screen wasnt stopped up.

my well isnt pitless btw

pressure switch is 30/50, but im not running it thru the switch right now( had to take the pump to moms house to use her water to have any clean water to test pump with)

 

[Reach4]

If you are not using water in the house, when you got the pressure up to 30 or more, the pressure should have held.

Presuming you have 28 PSI of air in the pressure tank, that would have held water pressure unless there was a non-trivial leak. The leak could be a leaky check valve, or it could be in piping. However a bad check valve would not have cause your main symptom.

I guess I would have liked to see if the power to the pump shut off when the pump shut down, or if the power was still coming out of the pressure switch on its way to the pump. Since you changed pressure switches, it seems unlikely that losing voltage out of the switch happened first. That would be nice if it did.

 

[wlf89]

it holds at 30psi, and the pressure tank has 28psi. where the wire from house splices into the wire going to the pump at the top of the casing i was getting 120v on one leg coming from the pressure switch and 113 coming from the other leg. i dont think 7volts less on the one leg would cause that would it?

when i can hear the water coming into the house it doesnt sound near as loud and strong as it used to sound, but its only running for couple of secs so might not be built up good yet.

 

[Boycedrilling]

What kind of pressure tank and size? Precharge for galvanized? If precharge, what pressure?

I’m not going to search catalogs to find your Pump model. What horsepower? Control box or no?

Do you have an amp meter or multimeter? If you don’t, beg, borrow or buy one.

 

[Boycedrilling]

What was the pressure setting on your OLD pressure switch? is the pressure setting on your NEW pressure switch the same or different?

 

[wlf89]

old pressure switch was same as new one 30/50

i looked the wires over good again when i got back home and found a spot that both hot wires where rubbed down to the bare wire right next to each other so hoping this is my problem.

the pressure tank is precharhed to 28psi and i rechecked it to be sure and its still 28

 

[Boycedrilling]

The wires were my next question. The rubbed portion was probably not in the water when you did the barrel test. That’s why it worked in the barrel, but not in the well. A resistance test on the wires in the well should show this problem.

New wire, or cut out the bad spot and splice it with a water proof splice kit.

 

[Boycedrilling]

Pulled a pump last week that I installed in 1993. It was a Grundfos that was still running fine. The homeowner wanted to replace it as a preventative measure. It had started getting noises in the house, the last year or so. This well has about 40 feet of 6” steel casing, then it is open hole in basalt. Found one rub mark in the wire when we pulled the Pump. I always use double jacket wire. Had worn thru the outer jacket. Could’ve see bare wire on the green ground wire. Insulation was about half worn thru on the conductor next to the ground wire. He got new wire, I’m not going to mess with splicing it.

Of course, I’m guaranteeing my work. It gets done right. But the customer is going to pay for it. For me the cost of going back on a warranty call is more than the cost of the wire.

 

[wlf89]

so far so good, so hoping just them naked wires was my problem

 

[Reach4]

the pump dont turn right back on but after about 30secs i can move lever again and it will pump another 1-2 secs.

Please confirm that the lever you are talking about is on the pressure switch.

Most people don't have the pressure switch with the lever.

 

[wlf89]

yes the lever is on the pressure switch. i went thru a few leverless ones, and switched to the lever style and havent had any more problems with the switch