Well tank float identification (2025 Update)

Try Grainger or the Surplus Center in Lincoln NE. Does it have to be a duplicate? Farm supply stores might have something. Irrigation companies?

Just be sure you get the right type. There are "pump up" switches and "pump down" switches. They look the same. A pump up switch keeps the tank full (like a holding tank), a pump down switch empties the tank. (like a sump pump)

wrote on Mon, 06 May 2019 13:44:00 -0400

I don't understand fully how it works but I can say that there is a set of floats wired to one junction box which close a switch when the tank is not empty, and by closing that switch, they tell the booster pump that there is water in the tank so that the booster pump can begin to operate.

The booster pump itself turns on only also when the pressure in a small separate blue tank goes below a threshold.

Then there is a separately wired set of floats that tell the underground well pump to turn on to add more water to the tank.

The starting point of an empty tank would have the booster pump power turned off because there is no water in the water tank and the underground well pump power turned on, so that the underground well pump will fill up the water tank.

Once the water tank fills up to a certain minimum level, the booster pump float will turn on the power to the booster pump, which will run until the pressure in the separate booster tank reaches a set threshold.

When the water tank reaches its maximum level, then the second set of floats will turn off the power to the underground well pump.

Meanwhile, there is a separate control box to keep the well pump from pumping air underground, which will shut off the well pump if it senses that the well pump is overheating. Connected to that control is a timer box, with a settable timer to allow the underground well pump to cool down, which I think is set for about a half hour.