My well pump quit working the other night. I investigated and found that the capacitor was blown out through the bottom. I thought no problem I went to Menards bought a new capacitor and relay. The original box was a Franklin the box from Menards is Pentak but all the ratings match. I took a picture of the wiring of the old box. Hooked up the new one turned the breaker on and sparks were shooting out of the bottom of the new capacitor! I shut the breaker off as it did not trip. I double checked the wiring it was correct. I turned the breaker on again and same thing sparks so I shut it off again. so to determine if the problem was the pump motor itself I disconnected the wires to the pump at the well cap. turned the breaker back on sparks still. so I disconnected the wires to the pump from the start box. So the only thing connected is the white and black from the pressure switch. turned on the breaker and sparks. so I replaced the pressure switch thinking that was the problem. Sparks. I tested all the wiring for shorts and didn't find any. The Well is about 240 feet deep the starter box said it was installed in March of 01. The pump I have no idea how old it is. We have lived here 7 years and this the 1st problem we've had with the well. Any ideas on what could be my problem?

 

Welcome to the forums.

After the fourth set of sparks there'll be nothing left to spark.

You changed boxes or you changed parts ?
That control box is matched to the well pump.

You could post your hookup pictures here or at least give us the models numbers for the control boxes.

I'm trying to figure out if the cap went bad why you changed the relay or the entire control box.

 

I changed the whole box. So I guess I shouldn't have done that. The capacitor still sparks even after the 4th time. I will get the Model #'s from the boxes but I'm guessing I should have just changed the capacitor?

 

I'm not familiar with the Pentak control box and would most likely just have changed the defective capacitor.

 

ok I called in a professional. the wires going out to the well were bad, and also the pump itself was bad. It is the original pump from 1975 so I guess it did its job. The pump is pulling 18 to 20 Amps and not working so if all goes well in pulling up the old pump, since it has been there for 38 years we don't know how easy it will come out, and to replace the pipe and pump its going to cost $1500 Thanks for the help.

 

Good luck on the job and let us know how everything went.

 

The New pump is up and running. There was a little problem. The water here is very hard there was a lot of build up on the pump and pipes. So they put some tablets down the well to rejuvenate it. We had to wait 30 hrs. for the tablets to work, then installed the new pump. We also had a new vermin proof well cap put on. So the total bill was $1900. Thanks again

 

Ahhhh......maybe calcium..... viscous mineral.

Good to hear the job is complete. Thanks for the update.