moving pump

jack77

Hi all, (i've this thread in plumbing as well said i'd try both areas!) i'm moving a well pump back into a pump house (it was moved out years ago to a little timber "hut" for lack of a better word) as where it is is now is getting soaked with water. anyway the reason it was moved in the first place was the pump "burned out" and the new 1 was put closer to the well, even though the previous 1 had worked for years. the socket in the pump house won't run a mains drill but does run the pump? could the socket box be coroded somehow and would this be why the original pump gave up in the first place and if so if i change the socket will it work?

meercat

when you say it wont run the drill,what do you mean
i think you need to get the voltage checked at the socket
if the volt drop to the pump is too great then it will affect the life of the pump
how far is the pump house away from the fuseboard
i think you may need an electrician to look at this installation

2011

meercat wrote: »

when you say it wont run the drill,what do you mean
i think you need to get the voltage checked at the socket
if the volt drop to the pump is too great then it will affect the life of the pump
how far is the pump house away from the fuseboard
i think you may need an electrician to look at this installation

+1

I was going to post something similar. Sounds like the supply cable may be undersized causing excessive volt drop.

jack77

its at my dads place so pumphouse is there 35 years, so 35 year old wiring, drill just doesnt work at all, it was my dad that tried the drill so dont know if it noised or anything, its about 150 to 200 ft from fuseboard to pumphouse and pumphouse to well is about 20ft. would i be wasting my time changing the socket so?

RoundyMooney

Moving it back to the pumphouse, ergo, closer to the point of supply will improve matters, but the issue here seems to be the undersized cable.

The old pump may have had a lower rating and/or a more resilient winding (thoughts?), and would have been subject to less of a voltage drop in the case of the former. In any event, it's a long way from the point of supply-the distribution board, which can't have helped matters.

Basically, the higher the load, the greater the effect, and undervoltage will have a negative effect on a motor. That said, I would have thought a drill would have been a lesser load than a pump?

Running a new larger sized cable over such a large distance isn't a simple matter either, in terms of either cost or the actual work itself.

It's quite possible that the socket in the pumphouse is knackered, also.

jack77

ya my dad said the old pump was much smaller, so a bigger pump would not sort it either as it wouldnt get enough power? was a bit puzzled about the drill myself, ill try it myself and see, wont do any harm to change the socket anyway, might get lucky and that might sort it. if that doesnt work ill give a spark a buzz to have a look at it