[Shop-talk] Well pump alarm question

[David Scheidt]

On Thu, Jan 20, 2011 at 7:40 AM,  <eric at megageek.com> wrote:
> OK, I know that I said I'd be quiet for a while, but this is a sort of
> emergency.
>
> I have a spring fed well for my property.
>
> Turns out that the water line in one of my out buildings broke. B So my
> pump was running for (maybe?) hours constantly.
>
> This drained the well and that was the first I knew something was wrong.
>
> What I was wondering, is there any sort of device that I can make/buy that
> I can hook up to my water pump that will 'time' how long it is
> continuously running. B Then it sends an alarm after it has been running
> continuously for more than a preset length of time? B It would need to
> reset to zero when the pump turns off each time.
>
> This way I would know of a problem before it drained the well.
>
> Anyone know of anything? B Anyone make something similar in the past?

I don't know about your particular requirement, but that sort of
failure is pretty common.  I know there are motor controllers that
will lock out a pump if it runs too long, or starts too often.  Well
installers where you are might not have experience with them, because
you're not exactly the desert, and wells running dry isn't that
common.

Where you can get one, aside from a well installer, I don't know.


--
David Scheidt
dmscheidt at gmail.com