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If the motor was hot, that means the pressure switch had closed and was telling the motor to start.

The motor isn't spinning, so we need to go deeper into the motor.

This tells me the switch is fine.

You can check the switch pretty easy to make sure the switch contacts did not fuse together.

Take the cap off after power is off and pry up the contacts with a screwdriver. (Should be 1/4" cap but) The contacts should not be stuck together. I'm pretty sure yours are not, but doing this will help you figure out how the pressure switch works.

I'm leaning towards a bad capicitor.

After that we are going to have Ohm meter the windings. If windings are shorted, it's time for a new pump motor. Please keep us updated .

 

The switch will be in the closed position (on) at zero psi or any pressure below the cut in pressure.

The pressure switch is meant to cycle between the 2 points - on at 30, off at 50 for example.

When operating normally if the system is empty (zero psi) as soon as you applied power the pump should come on and pump the system up to the cut off pressure, 50 in our example.

Well pump gauges are famous for failing, fortunately they are also fairly cheap.

 

im assuming the pressure switch is in the grey box on the right side of my picture between the tank and the motor. that thing is going to be a pain in the butt to get to. whoever thought it was a good idea to put the well pump under two HVAC units up against the house with about 2 inches of room above it and maybe 6 inches on the back side shouldn't be allowed to install these anymore. also apparently there's a roach and mosquito factory operating full tilt under here.

im hoping the capacitor solves my problem lol.

 

Yep. Grey, plastic box/ cover.

I agree, you all do things different in the south.

Up here, we would have an insulated hut with heat tape to keep the ambient temp above 40*F.

 

alright, well damn. so after tinkering and poking things I probably shouldn't have (my wife hates me) I went to test it out after cleaning the contacts and got nothing. not even the hum I had before. I hoped what you were saying was that it had a fail safe low pressure kill switch that cut all power if there was a total pressure failure. we'll see what the capacitor does when it gets here might get lucky?

 

the 4 nights a year that it gets close to 32* down here I have a heat lamp for her. everything in this house was poorly thought out.

 

Some pressure switches have a "pump saver" built in, if the pressure drops too far below the cut in pressure it will lock the pressure switch out (open). These come into play if a pipe breaks, the well goes dry or the pump looses prime.

There will be a small lever on the side of the pressure switch, you have to hold it for the pump to start from zero. They only cost a few dollars more than the standard switches.

 

If you have voltage at the pump the pressure switch is in the closed position (on).

 

I had voltage when I first started troubleshooting a couple of days ago. I only knew this due to the heat of the motor and the hum of a motor that wants to turn but can't. today after cleaning contacts and moving stuff around and poking around I didn't have my hum like I did before. I didn't leave the breaker on long enough to produce any kind of heat and I didn't put the meter on anything except the capacitor to check its capacitance. I assumed moving the capacitor around finally killed it off, or the pressure switch finally cut me off. my grey box sadly does not have that lever on it that I could feel at least. there's crap in the way of seeing it without real comfortable with some rusty screws and nails. ill look closer tomorrow though. ive never gotten to mess with larger electric motors so this is a fun learning experience.

 

See the metal tag on the cast iron body in the left side of the picture? That will have the model and serial number of the actual pump.

With those numbers you might be able to find a parts diagram, etc. .
Goulds is a common brand installed by many plumbers, if you need a new motor you should be able to get it through a local plumbing supply house.

 

You should have a local ( nearby) disconnect for the pump motor and a breaker (in the fusebox that is a distance away from the pump/ motor).

Have you checked if the breaker is tripped / turned off in the fuse box?

 

From your photos I would say you would like to kick the guy who installed it in the butt...

You can't check capacitance with the power on or the cap wired in the circuit. You need to pull the leads off the cap to isolate it and also short the poles of the cap together with an insulated screwdriver to discharge any stored energy.

 

Think they'd sell the motor only?

the only breaker/fuse is in our breaker panel and its currently off. the only one in close proximity is the kind of kill switch (there's probably a professional word for that) that you see close to HVAC units and air handlers that you simply pull out a plug that breaks all connection.

 

I did that and it would give me a reading anywhere between .1Uf and no reading at all. nowhere near the 170ish that was printed on the capacitor. sometimes the multimeter would just sit there and "think" and give no numbers at all for 30 seconds. not sure what that was about really.

and yea ill gladly kick him in the butt for a bunch of stuff at this point. I blame the home builder in general. he did all the houses on our road and they all have common problems. don't get me started on shoddy flashing.

 

The motor should be available as a separate part.

Similar to this? We commonly call this a local disconnect, intended to be installed "within sight of" the device it serves. To work on the equipment you pull this disconnect out, turn the breaker back on, then you can power up/down as needed while able to observe the equipment.

 

yep. thats what's there!

 

I have never had much luck reading caps without a dedicated cap only tester, maybe it is just me.
Most likely the cap is bad, fortunately they are fairly cheap and easily available.

 

yea we'll see. all I can do is start cheap and hope it works. $30 on eBay and hopefully solves the problem. judging by the manufacture dates its only a few years newer than my current one, but if it works, it works.

 

You can probably buy one locally for less, any electric motor shop, plumbing/heating supply house or industrial supply can help you out.