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Submersible Well Pump Grounding

sgoodno | Posted in General Discussion on July 1, 2008 05:13am

Hello, I just had a shallow well drilled and the driller installed a 4″ 1hp submersible 2 wire pump.  He connected it and provided a number of feed of wire (2 hots and a ground) for connection to my power source.  I have a 20a 220v breaker ready to go but have a question about the connections, specifically grounding.

The well casing is Concrete (not steel) as the well is a 36″ shallow well type.  How is the grounding at the well head done?  A driven ground rod adjacent to the well head with this pump ground connected there?  How do I bring power out from the main panel?  2 hots, a neutral?

What if I feed this from a sub panel where the ground is separate from the neutral? then 2 hots and a bare ground?

Your advise is welcome!!

Scott

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  1. User avater
    BillHartmann | Jul 01, 2008 07:00am | #1

    A pure 240 volt load, such as a motor, does not need a neutral.

    The ground wire for the pump has to go back to the panel.

    You don't need a ground electrode system at the pump, but one does not hurt. But the ground still needs to go back to the panel.

    I am assuming tht you don't have metal pipe for the water supply line.

    .
    .
    A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.



    Edited 7/1/2008 12:01 am by BillHartmann

    1. sgoodno | Jul 01, 2008 02:29pm | #2

      Thanks Bill,  Pumps are new territory for me,  No the water line will be this PE material we spoke about in a different thread.  For now I will connect directly to my panel but in the future will have a subpanel at this location to not only run the well pump but also any other equipment that I want to serve from the pump house. Scott

    2. Tim | Jul 02, 2008 04:23pm | #3

      Bill,

      When I installed my new electrical service, per the code, I drove two 8 ft grounding rods in the ground. I also tied my metalict pipes to the grounding system. Now, my well is in 150 ft 6" steel casing. I can't concieve that the service ground is anywhere as effective as the well casing as a ground. Seems like gounding a well pump is uneccessary at best.

      1. User avater
        BillHartmann | Jul 02, 2008 04:32pm | #4

        A steel well casing is an allowed ground electrode and as you said a very good one.But the OP said that he does not have a steel casing, but rather concrete.Also not that I discussed ground electrodes, not ground rods.The only grounding of the pump is via the equipment grounding conductor.But if you have a sub-panel, which the OP wants in the future, or you have surge supressors at the well then you need a local ground electrode system..
        .
        A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

        1. Tim | Jul 02, 2008 05:01pm | #5

          I should have read the OP, huh? That's what I get for a quck browse.

      2. renosteinke | Jul 02, 2008 06:21pm | #6

        Once again, there is confusion over two different things. The ground rod / well casing / ufer / etc. are there for lightning. They have no role in clearing faults. That's what the ground wire is for. Simply put, electricity that gets out (for example, from a burnt motor winding) want to go back to the transformer that it came from. It doesn't want to go into the ground, or anywhere else ... it wants to go 'home.' The ground wire is there to make sure that there is a path of essentially no resistance back to that transformer .... and this is what makes the breaker trip. Grounding Electrode Conductor ... Equipment Grounding Conductor ... no more confusing than house cat / cat house.

  2. Scott | Jul 02, 2008 07:53pm | #7

    Here's a different, but related issue.

    I'm wondering why you are using a submersible pump (expensive) for such a shallow well. Most installations would use a much less expensive and readily accessible above-ground pump.

    Scott.

    Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”

    1. ajs | Jul 03, 2008 01:14am | #8

      I have a shallow well ( 12 feet deep and 150 feet from the house) and for many years used a shallow well pump in the basement. I live in New Hampshire and switched over to a submersible pump primarily to lessen susceptibility to run-ons and freeze-ups during severe cold spells. When using a shallow well pump, if ice crystals form in the line and then lodge in the venturi, the efficiency of the venturi decreases and that reduces the maximum pressure that the pump can produce. If that pressure is below the cut-off pressure, then the pump runs and runs. Also, the max pressure in the inlet (supply) pipe to a shallow well pump is limited to something less than atmospheric pressure ( 14.7 pounds) because this is a suction device. But if a submersible pump is used, then the same pipe is on the output side of the pump, and the max pressure is much higher. This means that ice crystals and crud are more likely to be pushed through rather than block the flow.

      1. Scott | Jul 03, 2008 08:13am | #9

        That all sounds like good reasoning, although because the OP hasn't posted any profile info it's hard to say if the reasoning applies here. I guess we'll see.Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.”

        1. sgoodno | Jul 17, 2008 06:06am | #10

          Hi, 

          It was a bit of ignorance on my part.  I went with what the well driller recommended.  No problems with icing as I am in East Texas! 

          I got the pump connected okay last weekend.  I broke out a 20A DP breaker from my meter pole, ran the 2 hots and the ground from the pole to a pullable disconnect box at the well pump.  I grounded the disconnect box (and the ground wire from the meter pole)  through a ground rod at the pump itself

          Do you see a problem with this arrangement, being the ground rods at the pump and at the meter pole (which is my service entrance where neutral and ground are bonded)?

          Regards,

          Scott

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