Lighting protection well pump

[fitter30]

Have a well pump that is 300 ' down 120' water above it. Power pole 100' from well head. Twice in the last ten years lost the well pump control box. Has a start capacitor and a solid state relay. Cap wires charred and leaking oil and the cover screw is arced burnt. Lucked out both times pumps ok just changed control box. Talked with franklin electric panel manufacture they have lighting arestor but it's not recommended to hook it up to a ground rod. Have a panel surge protector and found ground rod connection to electric panel ground was corroded. Cleaned the mechanical connection and also soldered the wire on rod. Any other ideas

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Why would you NOT hook it up to a ground rod?

Thats literally what a ground rod is for

What they told you doesnt make sense

 

[AntonLargiader]

Metal well casing? Did they want you to ground to that instead?

 

[fitter30]

Well casing is 150' from the house and pump is piped with galvanized pipe.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Lightning not lighting - (just had to say it. Nothing constructive to add)

 

[sberry]

Ground to the casing, ground to the service via the casing. If it cant find a ground it often used the equipment ground to the well pump instead of the case like it should. Dig, run a number 4 wire from the power pole to it.

 

[MBfreak]

Before the feeder cable disappears down the well, install a metal junction box with ample space for high capacity low voltage zinc oxide surge arrestors ( At least 5 kJ) between phases and between each phase and ground.
Arrange a very solid earth connection by rods or buried copper wires.
The closer you get to the motor , the better protection you will get.
A transient voltage clamped by the arrestors will tarvel down to the motor and there will be a total reflection in the motor connection box.

Installing the surge arrestors directly in the motor would be best, but most likely not possible.

Ola

 

[fitter30]

MBfreak pump is single phase 240 volt three wire. 3rd wire is for the start capacitor. Did a search could not find what you recommend.

 

[mm08822]

Try searching for metal oxide varistors (MOV). The higher the joule rating, the more energy it can absorb without destruction.

 

[outdoorspace]

When I installed my Grundfos system I also installed a Delta LA602 at each end of the wire. I used an Arlington AnyBODY at the well head to act as the junction box.

For your 3 wire setup they sell the LA603.

 

[MBfreak]

Fitter.
Let us call the three wires L1, L2 and Cap

Voltages in normal service=
L1 to L2 240 V
L1 to Cap around 240 V my guess
L2 to Cap zer0, my guess
( Excuse my ignorance of single phase motors with cap winding . If someone cares, please correct/educate me)
L1 to ground 120 V
L2 to ground 120 V
Cap to cround appr 120 V

Surge arrestors have a rating called COV , Continuos Operating Voltage.
If you exceed that, unit will start to conduct and heat up , and self destruct pretty soon.
The clamp voltage is usually 1,6 x the COV. It will limot lightning sureg voltages very effectively, but only for small farctions of a second (< ms)
The higher the energy dissipation in kJ is , the bigger the probability that the unit survives even strong surges.

Try to get the "240" units rated at COV 270 Volts and the "120" for 135 V to cater for accidebtal long overvoltages on the grid

I do not think that you will find MOV´s for very high energy ratings.
Try to locate Zinc Oxide surge arrestors,

A final point is that when an surge arrestor is overloaded they may explode. Do not use ceramic or epoxi insulated stuff
Use only silicon outer insulation to avoid projectiles and/or fire hazard from molten ceramic that lands in dry grass.

Ola

 

[walta]

My well pump is 300+ feet down the well so the driller used 8 gage wires to reduce the voltage drop. When the electrician showed up saw the 8 gage wire and installed the matching 50 amp breaker.

The pump draws about 9 amps I wanted some protection my choice was a set of 15 amp time delay fuses and this surge arrestor. With a run time counter that measures the pumps amp draw. I also wanted a pilot light to know if the pump is running and if a fuse were blown.

https://www.grainger.com/product/CA...me-_-MyPurchasedProducts-_-5YM75&cm_vc=HPMPPZ

If you want one of the surge suppressors PM me I have a few extras.


Walta

 

[dcg9381]

FYI - unless you see evidence of lightning, not sure that this is more than typical age failure of the caps within the pump controller. On my last well, I had the same thing happen - caps would fail, leak, make a huge caustic mess. Right between 5-10 years of age.

Same control manufacturer too - Franklin Electric. Not sure that a surge protector or arrestor will solve this problem.

 

[sberry]

Yes, absolutely. Old **** happens.
My neighbor place got a hit. They sent insurance to look. Everyone said well got hit but really it hit an ungrounded outbuilding, failed main service electrodes and finally found it downhole on the motor ground. I could trace some damage thru the house. It was kind of neat. It had a steel well casing but it wasn't bonded with the service.
I got one I missed a chance to weld a lug on I wanna fix.