Single Phase Pump Starter

[itsmoked]

In November I put in a pump control system using mostly what was handed me to control a rural 1/2HP well and pressure pump combo with alternative contingencies. e.g. if the pressure pump took a dump the well could be pressed into service charging the pressure tanks.

Anyway, it was all working swimmingly until August 18th when it, it's water tank, a month old redwood board fence, and a nearby pile of 14 cords of Madrone lit off along with the four immediate neighbor's houses and the surrounding 83,509 acres and burnt to a crisp.

From these ugly but functional units:

And this:

To THIS!

By the way, this is what a 16x16x6 polyester enclosure with a sheetmetal pump starter in it looks like after bathing in 2,000F for 30 minutes.

I ponder if that is what I was breathing all last week.. Naw. Probably the water tank which is now only the bottom one inch of itself.

So now I get a clean slate instead of some cobbled up mess to sort into functionality.

Here's my question:
I need to replace the well pump starter which is just a simple:

Which is entirely just a 60uF cap and a "relay" to yank the cap out of the start circuit in a timely manner.
The problem is that I want all this in a single NEMA 4 type enclosure. I don't want to waste part of a very expensive enclosure re-housing this starter. Does anyone know what the timer is exactly? Or has anyone rolled their own from scratch?


Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[waross]

Have you considered buying a replacement Franklin starter and re-mounting the components?
I have seen a couple of failures with Franklin starters that were 20 or 30 years old.
I replaced the capacitor and they are still running.
As for the relay, my WAG is that it is a potential starting relay similar to a refrigerator potential relay.
However it may be a current relay, or a special solid state relay.
That gives me a couple of contrary thoughts:
1. Franklin have decades of experience with starting deep well pumps.
They are aware of any special factors introduced by the long lead lengths.
2. Consider the cost wasted time and inconvenience that may be caused by a wrong selection of a "roll-your-own".

I have just finished two pole mounted outdoor receptacle panels for farm use.
The code here allows me to build a wooden box with a hinged lid to protect the components from the elements.
I am allowed to use dry type equipment inside the box.
The code here allows me to use dry type equipment inside a pump house.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[Valvecrazy]

No timer in a submersible pump control box, just the relay and capacitor. Get a relay and capacitor like that and you can install it without the little 3R enclosure.

 

[LionelHutz]

Frsnklin has two different relays they use, one that operates on voltage across the start winding and one that operates on current through the start winding called a QD relay. The new current sensing boxes have QD Control Box on the cover in big letters. So yours could be voltage sensing or maybe they didn't always have that marking and yours is a QD relay. At any rate, I would just buy a Franklin box that matches the pump HP and voltage and then move the parts out of it. They're available under $100 in Canada so you should be able to find one for <$75. $75 is cheap compared to pulling the pump and replacing it because you guessed at the wrong relay.

 

[waross]

Thanks for the update on Franklin's new QD relay Lionel.
I haven't seen one of those yet.

Bill
--------------------
"Why not the best?"
Jimmy Carter

 

[itsmoked]

You guys are making all too much sense!

I shall hunt down a Franklin which was what I'd dealt with in the original.
I had to hack the damn thing because the plug-on PumpSaver was a nightmare.

Because of the screwy design the capacitor and the relay are mounted on the back of the face cover of the NEMA 12R box. The PumpSaver requires you look at its live face to adjust it. Look where they placed the face! So I had them open a hole in the box since it was inside another enclosure anyway. Beautiful work they did. LOL.

Pulling the entrails out of the box will fix the PumpSaver problem too.

Thanks all.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[itsmoked]

The Franklin is $61 at Grainger.

You can buy the replacement parts: Cap and QD relay there for only...

$93.

Typical. The box it is.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com