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Joined: Jul 2007
Information shared can improve our lives, which is probably what Rob had in mind when starting this forum. I have a catchment pump experience to share that may help someone else reading this forum. My pump would not click on when it was supposed to. So = electrical, tapped the switch, turned the power off & on - nothing! A friend told me to take an emery board & rough up the 2 contacts in the switch to remove corrosion. TURN OFF POWER FIRST. It worked!, Pump is now coming on as it should & I have extended the life of the switch, so far by 4 months. Not sure how much a new switch is, but I can't afford it right now.
Anyone else have info they want to share?
Posts: 1,839
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That fix is a temporary one and you can expect your problem to occur again soon. Those switches are pretty cheap if you change it out yourself. If you want your switch and pump to last longer, install and maintain a properly sized pressure tank.
Dan
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Cool, Dory! So often these days we throw things out or spend needless cash to replace what could be fixed. Good on ya!
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
Melissa Fletcher
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"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973
Posts: 1,839
Threads: 48
Joined: May 2007
Contact points have a very thin but very hard surface coating. Eventually they will burn through to the backing metal which will melt and corrode quickly. If the points burn through, the corrosion and carbon build-up can be filed down to expose clean, but softer metal which will fail again fairly quickly. At least the contact points will need to be changed but may only be available with the whole switch assembly. Usually less than $20.
Points burn out much more quickly when the pump "cycles" on and off too often.
Same emery technique works great for old cars too. Particularly Air Cooled VWs.
aloha,
peep peep peep,
pog
