Last week I had the contacts on my water well pressure switch weld together so the pump ran continuously. I would not have known had I not heard the relief valve spraying water. It was a Square D switch which had been on the well for about four years. Is this a common occurrence? We leave the well on even when we are away for a few days to run the sprinklers. I am considering adding a second redundant pressure switch in series to avoid a repeat.
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Not very common. Seems like getting ants etc in them and corrosion to not make contact is more common on our wells.
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They just fail in one way or another over time. Definitely keep a spare at the house because they always go out at a bad time.
Every thing did what it was supposed to do. Many people have wells running all over the place un-attended because they cant be turned off. So yes, if it is not needed you could turn it off or you could also put a cell cam or some thing over it when going out of town of it is needed.
I would not double up as the 2nd one would likely not work when needed after sitting. I would be more inclined to change it every couple years before I did that.
You knight double check that the prv valve didnt fail and make it come on and run non-stop also. It's a long shot but just some thing to think about.Comment
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My first diagnosis was the prv valve had failed. Then I checked the gauge at the tank and it was at 110 psi. I pulled the cover on the switch and tapped the contacts and they opened up.Originally posted by BRUTE 23 View Post
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I have never seen it happen, but have wondered about it . Since I have been around residential water wells most of my life, I assume it it not very common. But ants in the contacts is pretty common.Comment
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One other thing is to make sure the small pipe the points screw into is clear. Had one nearly plugged up one time and it caused lots of problems.Comment
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I've been on wells all my life and I have seen them stick but not that bad.Comment
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Check your pressure tank for the proper air pressure. Short cycling happens when the tank gets waterlogged. Short cycling is hard on contact points. I know this because we had a screw conveyor set up on a timer in order to feed raw material into a crusher. It would be on for six or seven seconds and off for ten for sixteen to eighteen hours a day. I kept several sets of contact points on hand because we were replacing them every few months.Comment
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I run some emery cloth through the contacts every few months on my well. They will get a flux type coating over time from the slight arc when opening/closing and will cause problems!Comment
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It’s something that happens pretty often. You can use a nail file to file the points but I usually just put on a new pressure switch. Most of the time it’s caused by ants like mentioned before.Comment
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I have one switch in 21 years fail . It was from ants . To me it’s not necessary.Comment
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what is the corect pressure supposed to be, sometimes ours wont turn on untill you tap on switch ?Comment
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A pressure switch has moving parts and can wear out.Comment
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