Breaker box clicks when Well Pump kicks in

[jw]

What happens is that when it's quiet in the house, I can hear a click in the house breaker box (which is located in my bedroom), whenever the well pump kicks in. The pump is on the same electrical meter, but a different breaker box.

Here's the approximate layout. This is a farm with a well. The wiring layout is something like this. There is a main pole not far from the house, with the meter and a 400amp cartridge fused disconnect. The main feed from the power company goes to a transformer on another pole about

30 feet from the meter pole. These come from the north. This is a 240 volt single phase system.

There are 3 panels (breaker boxes) in separate buildings being fed from this pole. It's about like this. The wires form sort of an X going to the buildings. From this meter pole, there is about 60ft of underground cable feeding the house 100A breaker box. This is the box where I hear the click. The house is approx. west of the pole. To the east there is a garage and workshop with about 160ft of overhead triplex, and a pole in the middle. The garage also has a 100A main breaker. The well pump is attached to this garage panel. There is also a barn to the south with about 210 ft. of overhead cable and center pole. (there are a few small sheds with small feeds for lights too, but this is not important here.

Anyhow, whenever the well pump kicks in, I can hear a click in the house from the breaker panel. Total distance from the garage box to the house box is a total of about 220ft.

Like I said, the pump runs off the garage breaker panel, and I hear the click from the house breaker panel. Each panel is a complete main panel, not an extension, since this main pole is in the middle (sort of) from all these buildings.

Why do I hear this click in the house. I just can not understand this. I'm assuming this is when the pump's motor starting capacitor starts the pump motor.

I should mention that the old pump was just replaced a couple months ago, after the 37 year old pump failed. BOTH the old pump and the new one cause this click.

It's not a problem, not even annoying. In fact in some ways it's helpful because if it keeps clicking every few minutes adn no one is using the shower or other water use, I know that someone left on a garden hose outside, or the toilet is running, so something like that. So, that tends to be helpful because it saves water and electricity.

Yet, I just cant understand why that click happens.....

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks

The well has a submercible 1hp pump. 3 wire with control box in the garage, which is about 15 ft. away.

[RBM]

If the well pressure tank is located in the house, you would be hearing the pressure switch kicking on and off

[Brian V]

Where is the pressure switch located? If in the house it is most likely a relay or contactor you heard clicking and turning the pump off and on.

[jw]

I guess I should have mentioned this. Neither the pressure switch or pressure tank are in the house. They are in a pit near the well. Nothing electrical inside the house is connected to the well pump. Only the water pipes come into the house. (Actually everything electrical is interconnected, but you know what I mean).

Actually, considering the distance from the well to the house, if this was in a residential area, the neighbor's house would be closer, and would likely be on the same pole transformer, so would I hear THEIR pump kick in too?

This is a bizzare thing, and when the pump was replaced, I had a well company come to pull the pipes and pump. I asked the well guys this same question, and they had no answer either.... They said they never heard of such a thing. In fact they thought I was joking at first.

I should also mention, that I have an air compressor in that garage, which also has a one HP motor. I dont hear a click when that motor kicks on..... I intentionally left the air leak out of the compressor and went into the house to see if I heard a click. I didn't.

[dpb]

On 1/29/2012 9:16 AM, [e-mail] wrote: ...

Well, (so to speak :) ) if you're really interested in getting to the bottom of this, take the cover off the box and observe...

--

[Paul Drahn]

Try pulling the panel cover so you can see the breakers. Then turn on water faucets so the pump will kick on. Can you hear the well pump breaker make a noise? Put your hand on the breaker, can you feel the click?

If all else fails, replace the pump breaker. Does the click still happen?

Paul

[Bennett]

Two wild ass guesses. Is there a spark surge suppressor in your bedroom circuit breaker panel?

Do lights dim anywhere in house when pump starts - (not clear if pump is 120v or 240v - thus anywhere in house question rather than just bedroom - i.e., is pump on same or different side of neutral than bedroom circuits?). I'm guessing there might be thermal contraction - expansion due to voltage dip causing mechanical movement in bedroom panel - admittedly unlikely due to transient nature of pump start. Tightening all screws, reseating breakers, etc. might fix.

Definitely not caused by disruption in space-time continuum.

[DerbyDad03]

......

How can you be so sure? Maybe it's being caused by a disruption

*after* you've made the determination that it's not.

Space-time continuum disruptions can be funny that way.

[DerbyDad03]

I'll let others express opinions on the cause, but what are you going to do if you find the cause and decide it needs to be fixed (i.e. it's potentially dangerous)?

You will lose your "Some idiot left a hose on" warning.

If you have actually been using the click as a notification, it sounds like you need some kind of dedicated device (light, bell, etc) to let you know when the pump is on.

[dennisgauge]

The easiest thing to do is open up the house breaker box and run some water while looking and listening for the click. With the box open it should be easy to pinpoint exactly where the sound is coming from.

There are only two sources of "clicks" in a breaker box:

1. The sound of a breaker tripping or being reset.
2. Electrical arcing.

Last time I heard noise from my breaker box, it was more of a sizzle than a click.

[The Daring Dufas]

There are times when you can hear wire slap the inside of conduit when there is a sudden load put on an electrical system. The sound is more evident in a large open building like a warehouse or hanger. It's much louder in thin wall conduit like EMT.

TDD

[gregz]

A large surge can cause mechanical noises. Its magnetic. I can hear this on small switching devices in electronics. It might be something that can be tightened up. I would want to measure the peak current at turn on. I could measure this with an oscilloscope, but there must be a peak reading current clamp somewhere.

Greg

[Mark]

well it is well known that a breaker can make a click noise when a surge current of a motor start passes through it...

but in this case the OP says that the breaker box making the click does NOT feed this pump, so that is the mystery. The breaker for the pump is in a different box, or so the OP claims.

First thing I would do is verify that this is true, turn off the main of the box and see if the pump can still run.

Mark

[Nate Nagel]

I had one that drove me nuts for a while, AFCI breaker would buzz and I couldn't figure out why. Eventually I had a reason to disconnect and reconnect the wire from it. Apparently there was a burr on the screw that tightened down on the wire and what felt like a properly torqued connection really was a loose one. When I reconnected the wire I felt it start to tighten up and then it got looser again, then it really clamped on the wire. I guess loosening and tightening the screw knocked down the burr enough that the torque required to overcome it was less than you'd normally put on one of those screws, but the first time it was used it wasn't. Oddly, it apparently never arced enough to trip the breaker (thankfully) but the buzz drove me apes**t until I reworked some circuits and discovered the problem. I was very close to just replacing the breaker (which, I suppose, would have also solved the issue.) Was a Siemens branded breaker FWIW.

nate

[The Daring Dufas]

Magnetic trip breakers will buzz from time to time especially if the load is close to the trip point.

TDD

[Harry K]

e quoted text -

Yep. I can not only hear the pump running, I can feel it on the pipe where it enters the basement. The sound isn't as noticeable now as it was 20 years ago though. My wife says that is due to my hearing loss. Couldn't possibly be :).

Harry K

[jw]

Since I built and wired the entire farm myself, I KNOW what feeds what. The house is separate. There would be no point at all of running nearly

200 ft. of wire from the house to the well, when the garage panel is only 20 feet away from the well.

[jw]

My well is nearing 200 feet from the house, actually more to the end of the house with the breaker panel. The pump is down around 280 feet in the well. So, that means there is over 200ft of underground pipe from the well to the house. There is a yard hydrant only 3 feet from the well. There I can hear the pump. In the house I cant hear the pump, but I can feel it just slightly in the pipes, and also notice the pressure increase slightly.

However, your response is the first in this thread which seems like it could be possible. The water line enters the house right near the breaker box. The pressure switch is in a pit, which has the storage tank, and directly from there the pipes go to the house, and right outside the house they tee off and go to the barn. While the sound does appear to come from the breaker box, maybe that switch click is coning thru the pipes???? However, I do NOT hear it in the barn, even when things in the barn are real quiet. Could that tee cause the sound to end at the house????? I dont know?

BTW: there is no conduit in here, just romex.

[Red]

On Feb 2, 1:55=A0am, [e-mail] wrote: .

Just a guess, but the house has a large reservoir of water (water heater) that could resonate the sound and make it more noticeable. The barn probably just has a faucet. The hum I hear from my motor running is more evident at the water heater though I hear it at other places.