submersible motor control box

[Raucina]

Had to cut off a 200 amp service quick, tried the harbor freight units but I got a little shock that threw me into the neighbors yard. After my teeth stopped clacking together, got out the truck bed liner and put it on the ground, whacked off a few pieces of garden hose and slipped them over the Corona pruning shears handles, slipped a few 20 micron filter cartridges over that, put on all the rubber gloves I could find, baked the welding mitts in the oven for a few minutes and slipped them over the rubber-maids, and CLACK! the power was off. No more somersaults for me nossirr!

Well, [pardon the pun] we're pumping out some fun again, so I suspect we'll soon be banned, banished or bludgeoned by the nuns that are watching us.

 

[mjudyl]

The reason I don't want to just let this go is I basically don't trust this guy. Last November I purchased a sump pump( $170) from Home Depot and had a friend put it in. In April( 5 months later) we had a major storm up here and this company came to bail out the water in my basement. Told me the pump was "bad", put a new one in for $185. Asked him where the Home Depot pump was, as I'd like to try and return it, and he hemmed and hawed and then said he threw it out. Not for a minute do I believe him!! But what could I have done? I'm sure it was fixed and is now in someone else's basement. Now he is charging me $75 for a 20 year old used control box.

I live in a small town with not many choices in heating and plumbing supply. I get my heating oil from them (prebuy) and just had a brand new furnace($3285) put in by them because they told me the heat exchanger in my old one had cracked.

I guess I'm just tired of heat and water problems and don't want to be taken advantage of!!

judy

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Wet_Boots]

The reason I don't want to just let this go is I basically don't trust this guy.

I live in a small town with not many choices in heating and plumbing supply.

judy

Have you availed yourself of any of your other choices? If you don't trust the guy, why keep using him? Now, if you are at least getting results you can live with, you may want to stick with "the evil you know" - as opposed to the great unknown.

 

[Raucina]

Hey the guy is a "PRO" - sacred words around this forum. Thats why I try never to hire one.

BUT THEN, nothing wrong with re-build- re-use. New parts in a old box is a new box. Maybe give the guy credit for thrift and keeping more junk out of the landfill. I would expect disclosure though.

 

[Rancher]

I'm guessing the price charged for a new control box from a pump/well guy would be $150, not the retail price from the big box store.

Rancher

 

[Speedbump]

Hey the guy is a "PRO" - sacred words around this forum. Thats why I try never to hire one.

Hey, Jealousy will get you nowhere.

The price on a 3/4hp box from a "Pro" would be around $77.00. Over the counter $54.00. You will find most Pro's don't have counters. They work from home to keep the overhead at a minimum.

There is another thread going on that is all about a homeowner not being able to buy from a Wholesale Supplier. There were many reasons given for that concept.

Graingers, Harbour Freight, Northern Tool and a host of others are where "Non Pros" buy their items. They pay more; or get less than quality.

bob...

 

[Rancher]

Used to be that Graingers was wholesale only, they've seen the light.

I really perfer McMaster-Carr.

Rancher

 

[Speedbump]

I remember when Graingers used to sell to only large companies, basically because they didn't want to deal with homeowners who wouldn't go to the book and find a model number to make their purchases. But as far as wholesale, they have always had retail prices. Even if you make very large purchases, the discount didn't amount to much.

20 or so years ago, they wanted me to buy their electric motors which were for the most part an inferior brand. I asked for pricing and it was actually more than I sold my motors for. And I was going to buy in quantity's needed to get their best discount. So how am I supposed to make a profit. And their motors were much less quality than what I was selling.

bob...

 

[mjudyl]

submersible motor control

Is $75 a reasonable amount for what appears to be a 20 year old box? Maybe the insides are rebuilt and it's ok but how do I know if I can't get the plumber to call me back. I wish I could just go to a store and buy one that I know is new and what I need.

I guess I'm just out of my element(no pun intended) trying to understand and fix this problem myself.

judy

 

[Speedbump]

I sell rebuilt Franklin 1hp boxes here for around $50.00. This is with used components that are reinstalled into the old boxes and tested.

I would like to think the parts in yours are new for that much money, but who knows.

I guess the important thing is that the pump now again works, so all is not lost.

bob...

 

[Raucina]

It is really not fair to put Graingers in with Harbor debri and Northern toilet time catalogs.

Graingers charges more and they deliver more, with a catalog that could be a textbook.

Hey, you can buy Russel-Dexter knives there, the whole line, the best and nearly last US made fine cutlery [ well, in Florida maybe you guys only cut lemons]

Example: bought Railroad signal light GE lightbulbs rated at 20,000 hours, 120V medium base, been burning one for 18 years now. Try that with the child labor .89cent bulbs from harbor freight. Try and find one with less than 8 hours of phone calls locally. They deserve the higher prices and a thank you for that incredible encyclopedia of mechanics.

 

[Speedbump]

It is really not fair to put Graingers in with Harbor debri and Northern toilet time catalogs.

I fully agree, they do have good items but they also have some bad ones. Anyone with a catalog that big can't just put all the top shelf items in that catalog. Like I said about their motors. They did sell some name brand top of the line motors, and they had the cheaper line called Dayton. Since they don't make motors and would prefer you don't know who made them, they used their name to market them.

bob...

 

[mjudyl]

End of Story -- after not hearing back from the plumber for almost 2 weeks - called him again and this time at suggestion of woman in office left voice mail expressing my concern over used control box. He showed up at 8:00 am this morning acting "dumb" about box being used - said he never looked at it. I said for $75 i'd like a new one - he said he had one on truck - got it and put it in. It was apparent he was unhappy that I questioned any of this. Is it a new box - who knows - this one has no information on front other than Centripro 1/2 HP 230 Volts Model #CB05412. I will not pursue it any further.

Thanks for all the comments and lessons!

judy

 

[Bob NH]

http://www.goulds.com/cp/pdf/7138.pdf

Centipro is now found on the Goulds site. It looks like they are replacing Franklin for their motors and control boxes.

mjudyl; I suggest you learn about your water system and try to find a real wells and pump person because your current plumber will probably try to make it up on the next service call.

 

[Alternety]

There have been some comments here about Graingers being a non-pro source. What is the secret. I paraphrase the following experiences:

I bought some vibration isolators at a Graingers B&M. They wanted my account # (I teried, I have an online ID but I falsely assumed that was an account) but said they would sell them as something along the line of customer accomodation (note - the store was empty the entire time I was there). I found I needed a couple more. We are talking, I won't have water until I can finish installing the pump which makes a lot of noise, couple more. I went back to get some more (store still empty - sales attendant had nothing whatsoever to do) and refused to sell them to me. I asked why he could not just do what the previous person had done. He announced that since I had made a purchase there before and knew the part number I could not be thought of as an "innocent civilian" and he would not sell me anything.

I ordered them online. Days passed. Many days actually. I got an email that told me basically that they were trying to decide if they should sell me anything. No further communication; and no parts. That, in its way, was more aggravating than the sales critter. In either case a credit sale is no less profitable from a pro than from a civilian. Particularly online, there is no incremental cost of sales.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find the same (or even similar) isolation mountings in a hurry?

How does one actually buy at Graingers as a civilian? Real question. I am not just trying to aggravate. Expensive or not, there is that 3000 page catalog of nifty things that are real hard to find elsewhere. Trying to buy it at Graingers;annoying. The blank stare in the hardware store; priceless.

 

[Bob NH]

You need to figure out a way to create a business identity. They don't check too much.

Before I retired from a local defense company the nearby Grainger place would let you buy on a cash sale if you said you were from ****.

 

[Alternety]

Thanks. When I was still working that was easy. I rather thought I had done that with the online account. Obviously I did not do it right.

I should take another shot at it just in case. There is another kind of similar source I have used instead. I think it is McMaster-Carr. No hassle, great customer service, prompt shipping. Pretty much everything Grainger was not to me.

 

[Rancher]

Well I had to go back and check, and I do indeed have a rolodex card with an account # on it. Don't remember how I got it... probably said I had a ranch and needed to order pump parts.

Rancher