Question
My parents bought a house that came with an irrigation pump to a well. The yard is not large. The manufacturer and label info. is worn and cannot be read. My parents used the pump for a couple of years. Last week, I turned on the pump and water did not come out. There is a timer connected to the pump motor. I believe it is a centrifugal pump. The timer is ticking (sound) so, the fuses (two 20 watts) are good. However, there is no sound by the motor. I cleaned the contact with sandpaper and still no humming or anything to indicate electricity flowing to the motor of the pump. Can I repair the motor? What would be the more likely causes for the motor not to work? I greatly appreciate your help. My e-mail: [email protected]

Note: The irrigation pump was probably installed about 15-20 years ago. The location of the house is S. Florida (Broward County area).  

Answer
Rick,
The first thing you need to do is verify power to the pump. Most likely that is not the problem. But that is were to start. I guess this pump must a small pump that pulls a 40 amp or less because of the 2 fuses, BUT  IT MAY BE 220 VAC.[I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU START CHECKING FOR POWER AT THE PUMP IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. AND YOU DO NEED TO BE CAREFUL] It probably would be 200-400 dollars for a new one. Plus labor. And the thing is 15-20 years old. Maybe you could get the sprinkler system to work without the pump. Well pressure is sometimes low and variable at times of high usage. You need  35 50 psi to get the sprinkler heads to flush and pop up. If you get a pressure gauge and screw it on that would tell you what kind of pump you may need. But it would be looking into the option of no pump and re do the sprinklers which may just involve changing nozzles in existing heads. Get a pressure reading first and see if you can eliminate the pump. If not, try real hard to read that data plate again and get HP. or just buy new because I doubt if a 15-20 year old pump is worth messing with.

Let me know if you need something else, but thats what I try.

thanks jim