Intermittent problem

[Jim99]

These are the kind of problem I really hate.
Sunday morning I get up and we have no water pressure. We are on a well. I check the pump breakers (2 x 20 amp) in the main panel. They are NOT tripped. So into the crawl space and check the fuses (20 amp redundent?) at the safety switch near the pump controller. One of them is blown. Since I didn't have another fuse, I bypassed the fuses (since the circuit is protected at the main panel). Pump comes on, pressure builds back up - all is fine. Deep down, I know this is not over because something caused the fuse to blow. Well, it works for awhile then trips again (this time the breaker in the main panel) so I reset and again it runs fine for most of Sunday including several loads of laundry. I think it tripped once more during the day. Even with the iron filter and water softener backwashing last night, the circuit did not trip. All was fine this morning.

Sorry for the long post, but I still have that feeling something is wrong and I'm going to have more problems.

Any advice would be appreciated.

P.S. About 8 years ago we lost a leg on the 220 line from the motor control to the well head. The line is encased in the hard black plastic. We had it replaced.

[captwally]

Is it a submersible pump, or is the pump and pressure tank located above ground? My immediate suspicion is the pump motor is on its way south. It is obviously drawing too many amps which is causing your fuse/breaker failures.

That is not the only possibility, but the one that jumped to the front of my brain. Could be the motor is running hot, or something else like an impeller restriction causing resistance. It could even be a pressure switch causing the pump to not shut off in a timely manner...

[Jim99]

captwally,
Thanks for the response. I should have mentioned that it is a submersible pump. The pressure tank is located above ground where the line enters the crawl space. I do not know how deep the well is. The pressure switch seems to be operating normally.

It tripped again this morning after operating fine for over a day.

I think my next course of action is to check the wiring starting from the breaker box, through the pump controller and back to the well head. I also read somewhere that the pump capacitor (located in the pump controller) may be at fault.

I hope ( :() it's not the pump.

Thanks again.