I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

Gota love that Harbor freight even though it is a crap shoot.

Yep! I can't complain. I got 7 years out of the old pump, and with any luck I will get a few more.

The kicker is, I now have 2 of the 5 gallon bladder tanks that come with the pump, which I can't do anything with. I would use them if I were only running the hopper and a sink off it. But with 2 sinks, a shower, and a hopper, I'll stick with the 30 Gallon tank we have thats old enough to run for president.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

Yep! I can't complain. I got 7 years out of the old pump, and with any luck I will get a few more.

The kicker is, I now have 2 of the 5 gallon bladder tanks that come with the pump, which I can't do anything with. I would use them if I were only running the hopper and a sink off it. But with 2 sinks, a shower, and a hopper, I'll stick with the 30 Gallon tank we have thats old enough to run for president.

Put them in line off tees, and run as extra hydro-cells. Beats wasting them...

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

Put them in line off tees, and run as extra hydro-cells. Beats wasting them...

Thought about that. My conclusion would be more stuff to drain for the winter, and less space in an already cramped area under the camp. Not gunna pitch em, the thought of that would be hateful. I'll hold on to em in case a neighbor up there needs one. Or perhaps they may be re-purposed for a future project.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

You could put one over your HW tank and another one near the toilet.
Mounted normally and above the lines they would drain fine.
Didn't realise that this was a seasonal situation...guess I should pay more attention.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

You could put one over your HW tank and another one near the toilet.
Mounted normally and above the lines they would drain fine.
Didn't realise that this was a seasonal situation...guess I should pay more attention.

Tanks are side fill rather than bottom fill so I would either need to tip them on their side to drain them, or come up with some brackets to hold them vertically so they could fill and drain from the bottom.

As it is the current bladder does fine by me. Takes about 4 toilet flushes or 8-10 minutes in the shower before the pump kicks on. Pump only runs for a minute to a minute and a half. Other thing that could be an issue using them is the well it's self. If it's been a dry winter, or its later in the season the well gets pretty low or has even gone dry on us a couple of times. I would be nervous putting 10 more gallons of demand to refill the system, as sometimes it takes the ground water a little bit to replenish whats drawn out of the well between pump cycles.

 

[j_martin]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

If it has the proper air pressure above the bladder, a bladder tank will always completely empty no matter what position it's in. The air outside the bladder pushes all the water out.

Those 2 five's together will give you more capacity than the 30 you're using now, and not have to be specifically drained for winter.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

If it has the proper air pressure above the bladder, a bladder tank will always completely empty no matter what position it's in. The air outside the bladder pushes all the water out.

Those 2 five's together will give you more capacity than the 30 you're using now, and not have to be specifically drained for winter.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

I'm sure you're all on the edge of your computer chairs waiting for the outcome of this weekend, so here it is....

Went up yesterday and started work on plan A. Soldered the new leads on for the capacitor, and clipped the new capacitor in place. Spent around a half an hour trying to get the system pull water. I honestly think I may have had an issue with the original prime from the past weekend, so that was fighting me. Anyway new capacitor lasted much longer than the previous one, but it eventually got hot an had a wisp of smoke came out. She was done.

Plan B, Got the new pump in place. Had to run to the local hardware store to pick up some more CPVC glue to put the outlet tube back together (I love how that stuff dries up every year). Got it all back together, re-primed the whole system, and fired up the pump. New pump had a burst of water push out between the back of the pump housing and the motor. At that point 3hrs into the project I almost lost my mind . Decided to fire up the pump again, and saw the plate with the seals at the back of the pump shift into place and seal off the pump.... FEWWWW.... no leaks after that. Got the system up to 40 PSI, pump shut off, bled the air out, and were now in business!

All in all, about 5 hrs hunched over in the 5'5" area in chilly overcast damp weather with the bugs coming out to play. Mom will enjoy running water next weekend though, so that's all that matters.

Had some time at work today to perform an autopsy on the old pump.
I believe this little silver bugger wrapped in clear plastic is what is staying on and causing the capacitor to fry ; View attachment 94982

And like I suspected, it's and induction motor; View attachment 94983

Gunna see If I can get a replacement thermistor, rebuild the pump guts, and buy another capacitor. Figure it should cost no more than 30 bucks to rehab it, then shelf it as a spare.

 

[bigdee]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

Satisfied my curiosity. By the way, those windings look good. Finding the correct thermistor could be a problem. Let us know how you made out.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: I let the smoke out of my shallow well pump......

Satisfied my curiosity. By the way, those windings look good. Finding the correct thermistor could be a problem. Let us know how you made out.

Yeah I got the feeling if I wanted to go for a thermistor, I may need to buy in a pack of 500 from a bulk supplier.

Took some more time to take apart the rest of the pump housing. Found the motor shaft that goes into the pump itself is pitted right where the main seal would make contact with it. In order to use it, I would probably have to come up with some kind of sleeve to go over the pitted area. Then I would still need find a new thermistor, a new capacitor, and one of the shaft bearings (put up a fight and got damaged on the way off). All these parts if available are probably cheap on there own, but put the cost of them together, plus shipping. It would be allot of heroics performed and money spent just to save a Chinese POS.

Harbor freight has a motor kit for this, which includes everything needed/ wrong with the motor side for $40, then figure another $5 to reseal the pump and all should be good. It would still be cheaper than buying a brand new one I suppose.