Submersible well pump kicks out breaker

Factual Questions
1

Need a little in-put.
My submersible well pump kicks out the 20amp breaker when the ambient out side temperature is above 80 degrees F.

I have to go the be main panel and reset the breaker. Some times it will hold and other times it will kick out again within minutes.

Looking for the problem before I call for a well-man. Don’t want to replace a pump if the problem it a starter.

The electrical panel is new within three years. The breaker problem existed before I put in the new panel.

The problem has existed for several years. Because of the above normal heat this year the breaker situation have become a pain.
Pelican

2

Odd. The first thing I thought was it would be the breaker. But IF it is new, it could still be bad.

I doubt temp has anything to do with the well pump. It’s immersed in water that would not be affected by the rise in heat to 80.

You say you got a new panel. Are you sure the breakers where replaced? Perhaps the old breaker was installed in the new panel.

3

enipla,
thanks for getting back.
I up-graded the panel a couple of years ago. The old breakers cost so much to replace that it was cheaper to up-grade to more amperage. The original panel was 100 amp. All of the old breakers were replaced with new ones.

I’ll admit that the old breaker was 20 amp also but why fault out only when the temps get higher?

I keep thinking that there is some type a compositor at the well head that over heats.

The well is about 20 years old. Pumps a good head of water to my holding tank.

I’ll eventually call out a well person, just want some knowledge before I call him. My guess is he’d tell me I need a new $1500.00 pump plus labor when all I really need is $50 widget.

Thanks for the reply

4

Possable problems. Bad well pump motor, bad breaker, bad wirring, or under voltage.

1st to answer why more problems when it is hot. A breaker trips when the internal resistor generates enough heat. If the enviorment is hoter then the breaker will tripp sooner, direct sunllight can cause problems with panels outside.

The place to start is take an amp reading of the pump when it is running. If it is below 18 amps them probably a bad breaker. If it is near 18 to 20 amps either the motor is begining to fail or undersized breaker and wirring was used.

If you can see the pump name tag. Check to see what the amps and voltage are. I think it will be safe to assume the voltage will be either 120 VAC or 240 VAC. Take a voltage reading of your electrical panel, both with the pump running and not running.

Another reason for tripping in high heat, low voltage caused by high demand on the electrical system. Either the homes or the utilities.

5

If this is a single phase motor, I would check the capacitor first.

6

This depends on the pump. On a 2 wire pump the capacitor is built into the pump. On a three wire the pump it will have a control box with the relay and capacitor. If the pump has a control box you can get a good deal of helpful information from it.

First thing to be done is electrical checks. What is the peak amperage on start up? What is the amperage after it’s running? Do you show any leaks from conductors to ground? What is the resistance between conductors?
The pump could simply see more problems when it’s hot out because you are running more water when it’s hot out.

The correlation with outside temperature is not worth putting much thought into. Something else has to be wrong before temperature would ever come into play.