Why does nobody warn you the pressure switch on a well pump dies on a holiday weekend
Had a sub panel feeding a well pump let go at a house out in Chehalis last Saturday, guy calls me at 7am with no water and a 3 year old. I get out there and the pressure switch contacts were fried, arced so bad the plastic housing was melted to the spring. Ngl I stood in that crawlspace for 20 minutes just staring at it because I left my meter in the truck and didn't want to walk back up the hill. Swapped the switch and a new 30/50 gauge for about $60 in parts and had him back on water before lunch. Has anyone else been seeing these cheap imported switches fail way faster than the old Square D ones, or is it just me?
The old Square D stuff fails too, it just takes longer and the guys who had them installed 15 years ago forgot the one that crapped out at year 4. I've pulled plenty of burnt Pumptrols off wells, contacts welded shut, same melted plastic, and those were the "good" ones. A pressure switch is a wear item, it cycles thousands of times a year and the contacts arc every single time, so getting 8 to 10 years out of any of them is about normal. What really kills switches is bad tanks and pump cycling, not where the plastic was molded. Fix the waterlogged tank and the switch lasts way longer, cheap import or not. So blaming the import is easy, but it's usually the system around it doing the damage.