About 3 weeks ago our water stopped. We replaced the switch at the pump and it was fine. Today when I was running water, it stopped again. I went and flipped the breaker on it, but it still didn't come on. About 20 minutes later, it started working again. Have you ever had this happen or do you know what the problem could be?
The pump has a capacitor start motor. Electrolytic capacitors fail. The capacitor is not physically down the well with the motor though, just electrically connected. There should be a pump control box on your wall somewhere with a pump shut off lever on the side, some relays and a large motor start capacitor hidden inside the box. Kill the main power, open the box, remove the capacitor and replace it with a new one with the same number on it. You can get them at any pump supply place, or even just order it on the internet. I recommend taking a picture first for reassembly if you can't understand the schematic on the inside of the box. Sometimes electrolyte from the bulged out old cap obliterates the schematic anyway, so having a pic is a good idea. Look on the internet for motor start caps if you can't figure out which item it is.
You mentioned that you flipped the breaker...was the breaker tripped? If so...then your pump is overheating, and tripping the breaker. Possibly some bare wires rubbing together in the well pipe might cause it too. If the breaker isn't tripping...then you may have a problem with the well itself. If it's going dry...the pump will shut itself down when the water stops flowing through it...rather than sit there and run until it burns itself up! Hopefully it's just a bad breaker! :-) Good Luck!!
Sounds like its overheating. There is a fuse that will automatically shut off if it gets to hot.
