Well pump fuse tripping

blaugranabhoy

Hi,

This is my first DIY post and apologies to you regulars...its a question.

I have a well in my garden from which we draw all our water via a pump which is housed in a small room at the back of my home.

We have found that, occasionally, when there is very heavy rainfall, the socket fuse for the pump trips on the switch board. I just don't understand this. The area where the pump is located is perfectly dry.

As a novice in this field I can see two possibilities given that the problems only happens during heavy rainfall. 1)The ground water levels in the well are so high that for some reason the pump cannot handle it and trips out. Or 2) There is an earthing rod into the ground from the pump...is there a chance that this rod being submerged by high groundwater somehow trips the fuse (unlikely I think).

Both my theories may be rubbish though and I'd really appreciate any feedback on this one...its a nuisance as you can imagine

Regards.

cnocbui

Uh, oh.

We had a similar problem, except our pump was well down the bore.

What it was, was that with heavy rain, fine silt was being washed out of the upper alluvial soil layer and down into the bore. The motor had to strain due to the silt.

It got so bad that the pump soon wore out. When we pulled it up it was clear that the whole pump had been entirely submerged in silt. The pump was 20m off the bottom of the bore!

We were told that likely the people who drilled the original bore had likely not fitted a seal between the steel casing and the bedrock, allowing the silt to wash down into and fill the bore.

Unfortunately the solution was a new bore and pump.

blaugranabhoy

Thanks for your help cnocbui...I furthered my investigation and have found out some useful information.

I reckon there is switch gear on top of the bore (problem is mine has been buried by previous owner of the house...idiot!!). Some water can get in at the gear and short out the electrics.

So I'm off to find the bore now...I have an idea where it is alright so I'll find it and then try to raise the gear proud of the ground where it won't be subject to water ingress from saturated earth in heavy rain.

Thanks again.

cnocbui

Glad your problem appears to be less serious. There may well be a connection box at the head of the bore. It might be easier to just replace it, if it is not water tight, with one that is.