Home well question...

willness33

willness33

Here for the memes
Joined
May 3, 2005
Location
Alexis,NC
Ok, so I get home from work this morning and I have no water. I have 120 volts on both hots at the well head (220 pump). The gound is good as well. So I had the pleasant experience of pulling up the pump. The well is 160' deep with the pump at about 150'. This was heavy as hell to pull by myself, but I got it out. I cut the wires at the splice for the motor. I hooked the motor up at the junction box at the well and it worked. Keep in mind that the motor didn't work with it hooked up to the 150'+ wire running down the pipe. Armed with this knowlege, I continuity checked the wires running down the pipe. Sure enough, one of the hots is "open". Now, replacing the one hot wire won't be a problem, except for the "waterproof" splices. Does anyone know if Home Depot or Lowe's sells this type of heat shrink with the hot glue stuff? Also, I was thinking about this a little more. The pump has a little twist from the torque at startup. The pump is wired with either 12ga. or 10ga. sinlge strand wire. Shouldn't it be multistrand to allow a little more movement over time or is this just a fluke. I don't want to put in single strand if this is going to happen again. BTW, the well is only 2 years old. TIA.

Will.
 
Wiring of a pump is usually done with a 3 conductor, solid wire, water tight line (usually yellow insulation). There should also be an "arrestor" near the pump, a plastic "hat" that keeps the pump from twisting in the well. This wire is not cheap, but tends to hold up to the twisting and rubbing against the well wall better than most wire. It should be one piece of wire from the junction box at the top of the well to the pump...no splices.

Most HomeDespot and sLowes do carry the insulated connectors, but they tend to be the cheap "homeowner" type. Look in your phone book for an electrical supply house. Walk in, pull up a stool at the counter and explain what you need the connectors for. The old guy behind the counter will know the best thing. Don't go first thing in the morning, around lunch (11:00-2:00) or right before closing...You will piss off all the contractors that know what they are looking for...:D
 
Depending on the pump manufacturer, see if the connector is a male/female water proof plug.

If so, you can order a new drop lead from the man.

If not, I have twist, soldered and heat shrunk on more than 1 occaison. I would use multiple layers of heat shrink with a staggered configuration (layer 1 1 piece of HS centered on joint, layer 2 TWO pieces of HS meeting at center of layer 1, layer 3 identical to layer 1 and layer 4 identical to layer , and use silicone between each layer) I am not syaing this is the "right way" just that it is a proven solution that will last.
 
You can get heatshrink from your local boating supply place or dealership
 
I dont know If it would work in your case, but we use water tight grease packs called direct bury kits

we use these in irrigation jobs when burying solid wire in the ground, Iused them on several wells when we hooked onto wells for a source for irrigation water
 
I use a solder connection then heat shrink it. If I pull one out and find a spot rubbing I will slip a piece of black pipe over the bad area about fifteen feet long and duck tape it to the water line.
 
Thanks for the replies. I have water again. Now I just have to run the crap out of the pump to get rid of all the stuff I stirred up in the shaft.
 
Thy make plastic isolators that clamp around the pipe and have a spot/hole for the wire to go. They help keep the wires from getting chafed..
 
It already had the isolator. I still don't know how one of the hots broke or even where it broke. I removed the bad hot wire and just replaced it. I'm going to burn off the insulation and find out where it had come apart. It really was one of those fluke things.
 
sorry, by isolator i didnt mean the torque arrestor on the bottom, but just small plastic disks that get inserted every few feet as you put the pipe and wire into the well..
 
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