I had a well drilled last June. SE Minnesota, well goes 400 feet into a Shakopee formation. Pump is installed at 330′ with a pitless adaptor feeding a 1″ plastic line buried in a 55 foot long, 5 1/2 – 6 foot deep trench along with 4-wire 10AWG UF cable, which is run down to the pump.

A layer of sand and 2″ rigid insulation was placed over the pipe and cable prior to back filling the trench, however I was not present during the entire back fill operation, which involved some broken limestone rock.

The well contractor tested and verified good water supply at time of well completion, but did not test the pump, as this is for a building which is still under mostly DIY construction, and the utility room, electric, and plumbling and heating have just now reached a stage where it is possible to install the pressure tank.

The pressure tank with associated tank tee, valves, pressure guage, drain valve, relief valve, and pressure switch were intalled last week by well contractor and I supplied correct wiring from disconnect to pressure switch, and installed and wired the contractor-supplied control box from switch to box and on to the UF cable which runs in a chase with the pipe. BEFORE doing the wiring, I did double-check with well contractor to make sure he had used the white wire as the third “yellow” wire when wiring the pump, and verified that there was no other procedure required before final connect.

When I make the connection to power (2 wire 10AWG with ground), I hear the “click” of the relay in the box and a slight hum from the capacitor (?), but NO WATER. No sound or indication on the pressure gauge that anything is happening. No breakers pop, the control stays active (reset does not activate). Nothing exxept the click upon connect and the slight hum. Left “ON” for 15 minutes, still nothing. Same story on repeated connects.

Contacted well contrator who said it sounded like I had made proper connections, said priming is not necessary, agreed to come to site this week to trouble shoot.

Questions:

Anyone had a similar experience? Resolution?

Could the time lag between drilling and attempted activation (10 months) have an effect on this?

I assume the contractor will check for electrical continuity between control box and well head, and well head to pump. (I’m not equipped with tools or knowledge to do this). What is he likely to find? I’m thinking that maybe the cable WAS damaged during back-fill, but then wouldn’t there be some indication of a fault upon connect?

Any other suggestions that will make me more knowledgable as I correspond with the well contractor on this? Given your assessment of my skills and knowledge from my description, is there anything else I can do to trouble shoot on my own?

Any other information I can supply?

Thanks in advance,