Posted by sno on February 14, 2010, 6:11 pm
On 2/14/2010 12:55 PM, Ecnerwal wrote:
>> It seems to me that the real problem is your inability to bury the line
>> leading from the pressure tank to your house deep enough to prevent it
>> from freezing.
>>
>> I'm wondering if you might be able to run that water line through a
>> larger black plastic pipe through which you feed just enough warm air to
>> prevent the water in the inner pipe from freezing...
> Another option is "inside the pipe heat tape". If it freezes up, turn on
> the heat, when it thaws enough for water to flow, turn off the heat
> until it freezes again. Probably use a lot less power than running the
> pump all the time, too. If you have a septic system, also much better
> for that than running water all winter. Works better if you insulate the
> waterline.
> Of course, if you insulate the waterline with sheet polystyrene (XPS,
> waterproof, ground contact, usually pink, blue or green rather than
> white) far enough sideways, it's just as effective as burying the pipe
> deeper, and uses no power. A pipe with a 4 foot wide sheet of insulation
> centered over it (right on top of the pipe) that is then buried 1 foot
> deep is effectively the same as burying the pipe 3 feet deep.
Another great thought....!! Is great having a bunch of geniuses working
on a problem <grin>...thanks again everyone....sno
Posted by ghio on February 17, 2010, 10:04 am
> On 2/14/2010 12:55 PM, Ecnerwal wrote:
> >> It seems to me that the real problem is your inability to bury the line
> >> leading from the pressure tank to your house deep enough to prevent it
> >> from freezing.
> >> I'm wondering if you might be able to run that water line through a
> >> larger black plastic pipe through which you feed just enough warm air to
> >> prevent the water in the inner pipe from freezing...
> > Another option is "inside the pipe heat tape". If it freezes up, turn on
> > the heat, when it thaws enough for water to flow, turn off the heat
> > until it freezes again. Probably use a lot less power than running the
> > pump all the time, too. If you have a septic system, also much better
> > for that than running water all winter. Works better if you insulate the
> > waterline.
> > Of course, if you insulate the waterline with sheet polystyrene (XPS,
> > waterproof, ground contact, usually pink, blue or green rather than
> > white) far enough sideways, it's just as effective as burying the pipe
> > deeper, and uses no power. A pipe with a 4 foot wide sheet of insulation
> > centered over it (right on top of the pipe) that is then buried 1 foot
> > deep is effectively the same as burying the pipe 3 feet deep.
> Another great thought....!! Is great having a bunch of geniuses working
> on a problem <grin>...thanks again everyone....sno
Bury the damned pipe. Thus saving energy, water and relays.
Posted by sno on February 14, 2010, 6:07 pm
On 2/14/2010 12:19 PM, Morris Dovey wrote:
> On 2/11/2010 7:52 AM, sno wrote:
>>
>> I just replaced my well pump relay due to arcing wearing away the
>> contacts...
> <snip>
>> thank you for any help....have fun....sno
> It seems to me that the real problem is your inability to bury the line
> leading from the pressure tank to your house deep enough to prevent it
> from freezing.
> I'm wondering if you might be able to run that water line through a
> larger black plastic pipe through which you feed just enough warm air to
> prevent the water in the inner pipe from freezing...
> If that's possible, then you not only solve the frozen pipe problem, but
> you also solve the problem with the relay and you probably extend the
> life of the pump at the same time...
Hmmmmm....interesting thought...could blow the hot air off a lite bulb
with a computer fan from the pump house, if snubber doesn't works then
maybe can rig something up like that..should have the components for
snubber next week...got my fingers crossed, as that is the least
expensive/easiest to do..not worried about pump as has lasted well over
10 yrs., will see...thanks for the thought.....have fun.....sno
Posted by Bruce in alaska on February 15, 2010, 7:12 pm
> I'm wondering if you might be able to run that water line through a
> larger black plastic pipe through which you feed just enough warm air to
> prevent the water in the inner pipe from freezing...
What we use up here in the Frozen North of Alaska is similar to this
Morris... We have our Galv or Copper waterpipe with a wrap of HeatTape,
then wrap that whole deal with Pipe Insulation. then we put that inside
a 2" PVC Pipe that was split in half and we use Stainless Hose Clamps
to hold the PVC around the system and bury it about 4 feet down. When
the Temps go below 0F, with no snow cover, or -20F with snow cover, you
just turn on the Heat Tape, that is usually about 1.5 Watts/Ft, whenever
the Genset is running. Works good, clear down to -75F...
--
Bruce in alaska
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Posted by John Gilmer on March 9, 2010, 1:36 pm
> I just replaced my well pump relay due to arcing wearing away the
> contacts...
> It seems I am replacing the relay about every 1.5 to 2 years...and it
> seems to happen always in the middle of winter...it is a bummer to replace
> it when the weather is bad...I would like to get maybe 6 more months out
> of one....
As others have mentioned, the relays used (I ASSuming you are talking about
the "start" relay) usually last a LONG time as they only operate and release
ONCE per start cycle.
What can greatly reduce the life is "false starting" by which I mean that
the pump starts, the relay opens but there isn't quite enough torque
available to bring the pump up to full speed. It slows down and the
"starting circuit" is once again activated.
You can check this simply by watching the relay when it starts.
It could well be there is "something" wrong with the capacitor.
The 'next time' you might get an entirely new 'control' box and ensure that
all accessible connections are tight.
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>> leading from the pressure tank to your house deep enough to prevent it
>> from freezing.
>>
>> I'm wondering if you might be able to run that water line through a
>> larger black plastic pipe through which you feed just enough warm air to
>> prevent the water in the inner pipe from freezing...
> Another option is "inside the pipe heat tape". If it freezes up, turn on
> the heat, when it thaws enough for water to flow, turn off the heat
> until it freezes again. Probably use a lot less power than running the
> pump all the time, too. If you have a septic system, also much better
> for that than running water all winter. Works better if you insulate the
> waterline.
> Of course, if you insulate the waterline with sheet polystyrene (XPS,
> waterproof, ground contact, usually pink, blue or green rather than
> white) far enough sideways, it's just as effective as burying the pipe
> deeper, and uses no power. A pipe with a 4 foot wide sheet of insulation
> centered over it (right on top of the pipe) that is then buried 1 foot
> deep is effectively the same as burying the pipe 3 feet deep.