# CSCR submersible pump blowing start caps



## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

The wet well is silted up, the viscosity has increased, the pump can never get to full speed now, which would look just like a bad centrifugal switch on a single phase motor. The start cap is never taken out of the circuit and it blows.


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

JRaef said:


> The wet well is silted up, the viscosity has increased, the pump can never get to full speed now, which would look just like a bad centrifugal switch on a single phase motor. The start cap is never taken out of the circuit and it blows.



Should he hire a "turd chasing" company to clean up the sump?


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## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

Don't laugh, there is a machine called a "Vactor" that does just that. Pump stations have to be "evacuated" periodically to get rid of the sludge that the pump won't suck up, otherwise it builds up and does stuff like this. So companies run around in Vactor trucks doing this routine maintenance on them. They pull the pumps, hook up hoses to the nearest fire hydrant and hose down the wet well with high pressure, vacuuming out the sludge. When I worked in Washington State, I kept running into a husband and wife team that owned their own Vactor truck and drove around on a continuous circuit, just cleaning lift stations. That was a nasty life if you ask me... but they seemed happy together.

Small districts however often forgo that expense when budgets get tight, then have to spend money replacing pumps more often. But it comes out of a capitol equipment budget instead of a maintenance budget, so they just pass the replacement pump costs on to the subscribers, which they have a harder time doing for maintenance costs. Makes no economic sense, but I've seen it time and time again.


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

Yes I've seen the vehicles that do this, thanks for the lesson JRaef.I've rewound some of those two pole pump stators 5hp -100 hp in the past, pain in the butt.(coil spans are pretty long that fit into the slots)
:thumbsup:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Vacon guys are good a netting you a float switch replacement project.


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

JRaef said:


> The wet well is silted up, the viscosity has increased, the pump can never get to full speed now, which would look just like a bad centrifugal switch on a single phase motor. The start cap is never taken out of the circuit and it blows.


Yeah I wish this were the case but they just had the vac truck out there a week ago and the wet well was as clean as a surgery suite


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

JRaef said:


> ...When I worked in Washington State, I kept running into a husband and wife team that owned their own Vactor truck and drove around on a continuous circuit, just cleaning lift stations. That was a nasty life if you ask me... but they seemed happy together.


The family that sucks sh!t together stays together


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## Bootss (Dec 30, 2011)

send your apprentice down into the sump along with breathing gear ,see what happens see if he can find out the problem.


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## Cow (Jan 16, 2008)

I'll throw out some random thoughts:

How does the pump run when it's sitting on the ground before you drop it in the sump? Normal idle amps for an unloaded motor? Gets up to speed just fine? Is the impeller tight in the housing with no slop or clearance issues? Bad batch of pumps? Wrong impeller installed with too much pitch? Can they try a different brand?

With it installed in the sump, have you measured voltage at the motor cord connection when it tries to start? Too much voltage drop?

Are there any valves or check valves on the discharge pipe? Can you close one down some to see if the amps drop? I know this works on centrifugal pumps when they're pumping with less head than they are designed for. I'm not sure what your Goulds are rated at. Did they replace the existing 8 year old pump with the EXACT same pump or one "supposedly" just like it.

One last thought, can you throw it in a barrel of water with a temporary discharge hose on it just so you can watch it run?


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## micromind (Aug 11, 2007)

If it's the start cap, measure the current after it has run for a second or so. It should be zero. If not, then the start winding is not being disengaged.


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