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Trouble at home


CaptainJoe

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Believe my +200' deep submersible well pump to the campground bought the farm last night.

 

Have a guy coming out this morning to take a look at it. Has a 6" x 15' steel casing above ground as it's in a bottom that floods.

 

Should be fun...NOT!

 

Was all packed up and ready to go to IR this morning. Not looking good at this point.:depressed:

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A "submersible well pump" is not designed to remain underwater permanently. It is designed to be under water until the water is pumped out and then wait for the water level to rise again and do more pumping. If it stands underwater for a long time, it drowns (floods the internals and shorts the motor). For permanent underwater exposure, the motor needs to be above the water surface with the pump inlet being submerged, usually accomplished with a standpipe with check valve at bottom.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

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A "submersible well pump" is not designed to remain underwater permanently. It is designed to be under water until the water is pumped out and then wait for the water level to rise again and do more pumping. If it stands underwater for a long time, it drowns (floods the internals and shorts the motor). For permanent underwater exposure, the motor needs to be above the water surface with the pump inlet being submerged, usually accomplished with a standpipe with check valve at bottom.

-Pete, in Tacoma WA USA

 

 

:no-no-no::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::whistling::think:

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During summers in college I worked for Winthroth Pump Co.. One time in Tustin, Ca. we had to pull 360' of 20" column pipe in 20' sections with a set of bowls at the bottom, 250hp electric motor on the top, in 114 deg temp. Pull it, rebuild it, and reinstall. It was so hot the tools had to be tossed into a bucket of water or you couldn't pick one up if it sat for a while. :scorched:The pump was the only water supply for the entire town of Tustin... near Disney Land... and they only had a 2 day supply of water in the tank. WE...crew of three...did it, and when we fired the thing up I layed down in the water coming out while testing. God it felt good!!

Yours should be a piece of cake....

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Update:

Well was 85' deep with a 1 hp. pump.

It had a crow foot instead of a pit valve... it promptly broke off...Luckily we had hold of it before it did. Took 4 hrs to get it loose from the casing!....

Not only is the pump bad, but 340' of 12 gauge wire is toast also.

The line from the breaker box was 12 gauge without ground.

I'm replacing all the wiring from breaker with 10 gauge, well wire with ground.

Also replacing the fuse boxes with breaker boxes. By the way, I found out there was a 1/2 hp and a 1 hp pump on the same 240 volt line. Bought a 4 slot breaker box which will allow me to turn on one pump at a time....

replacing 1 hp with a 3/4 hp pump. getting rid of the 21' x 3/4" galvanized steel sections and going with plastic waterline.

Also going to install a pump saver which will sense when the pump is not pumping(not enough water) and shut it off.

 

He's coming back tomorrow and between the two of us we should get it up and running (weather permitting).

 

This is a great guy... Don't know many who would work on a Sunday let alone a Saturday.

 

 

Thanks for all the replies and "well" wishes... Pun intended...

 

I'm beat, gonna drink a few adult beverages, and, hit the sack...

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Wishing you the best of luck as you and your Plummer tackle the task at hand today. Hope all goes smoothe and your up and running easily and quickly.

Many years ago (late 60s), I worked for a well drilling guy and ran his rig. Drilled many a well back in those days. Installed submersible pumps, dug trenches, installed water lines and electric lines to the house as you will be doing today..

Yep, I surely don't have many fond memories of that job... all I can do is wish you the best of luck. Oh, and stay out of the mud.............:stickpoke:

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I too will have to disagree with the statement that submersible pumps are not designed to be under water all the time. My well is about 200 ft. deep. It has a submersible pump ... not sure how far down but not too far from the bottom. The water in my well will often stay within 5 or 10 ft. from the top and so the pump has been submerged continuously since the well was drilled about 10 years ago. My deep well in Texas was the same way as are many others that I know of.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

A submersible pump (or sub pump, electric submersible pump (ESP)) is a device which has a hermetically sealed motor close-coupled to the pump body. The whole assembly is submerged in the fluid to be pumped.[4] The main advantage of this type of pump is that it prevents pump cavitation, a problem associated with a high elevation difference between pump and the fluid surface. Submersible pumps push fluid to the surface as opposed to jet pumps having to pull fluids. Submersibles are more efficient than jet pumps.

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Thanks Eck...

 

After 11 hours of non stop labor, We got it installed and the pump wire that goes under the road and driveway in 1 1/2 inch conduit. the rest of the wire will have to wait until Mrs utility comes out and marks the lines, normally 72 hrs. The wife was even helping watch to make sure I didn't snag a gas line. I Was only 15" deep but that should be good enough in that conduit.

 

So.....

 

Guess who's going to the IR?...

 

Should be there around 5 PM tomorrow.

 

 

:cool10:Road Trip!:cool10:

 

 

On the submersible pumps...I agree, A pump pushes water better than it can pull...

Years ago I can still remember my dad getting worked into a lather over the pump in the well house, loosing it's prime. It was a certifiable pain to get primed... Years later the technology allowed for a smaller pumps to be submersed in the water eliminating quite a few problems. My new pump is 85' deep and there's about 50' of water above it.

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Guess who's going to the IR?...

 

 

Geez, The only thing I have go say is "I Love you man"!!!'

Ride safe, dag, thought I'd have to eat these key lime pies myself:bowdown:

 

We are room 346 upper level overlooking the lake

 

Sweet!

Save some pie for me!

See ya tomorrow.

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