Prevention of Well Problems

If you are looking for ideas about how to prevent catastrophic failure of a PVC cased well when the motor overheats, look no further, because we have it. Motor may overheat for any reason such as collapse of formation, pump end failure, piping failure (aka- cheap well driller syndrome), or check valve failure. I know this is a rare thing when everything is done properly and a good pump has been utilized, but I am always looking for solutions to keep in my back pocket, when failures like this comes along.  Well problems can create headaches that won’t easily go away!

We know if a pump cavitates it pulls high amps, and they have devices to shut it down, but what if water heats up with a piping failure (which happens all the time when the cheap guy drilled it!)? On an above ground pump we have high limit switches which control the temperature and prevent further damage.  Shouldn’t a deep well PVC casing be protected from future failures?

Some contractors may install the submersible pump below the casing on an “open hole” type well, which can open up a whole new set of problems!  But a screened well is different.  If it is PVC construction, then your pump is a potential danger to the life of the casing, if it were to catastrophically fail.

The only time I have ever had this happen to one of our wells, is when a customer allowed the well head to freeze (dead head) and the submersible locked in the PVC casing while trying to get the pressure to the remote tank.  The blow-off valve didn’t work due to it being frozen too.  We told him that he had to buy a new well (a 5 ton crane couldn’t pull it out!).  He was not happy!  If only he had installed an overheat sensing device that we now sell (they didn’t make it back then), it would have saved him a bundle.

Franklin Electric makes all kinds of nice gadgets for your new pump system.  If we recommend it, it is for good reason!  Click here to view info on PumpSaver.  It may be the best friend a pump motor could ever have!

Thanks

Jody