PumpSaver / Littelfuse Well Pump Protection Review

[@RetreatHacker]

Thank you for making this. There are not many good detailed videos on these devices

[@pomonabill220]

YES I would love to see the inside! (probably potted though....). Thanks for the detailed look at testing this device! RATS that you didn't have one BEFORE the leak though!

[@mjlorton]

My pleasure, it's not potted...but they have tried to obscure the ICs. I hope I can still identify them when we have a look inside.

[@ke6bnl]

I have had one like that I believe it is called a coyote SP-11 pumpsaver for 35 years every once in a while maybe once a year I have to go out and recalibrate the unit.

[@tomschmidt381]

The electronic pump savers (Franklin Electric also makes one) are pretty clever. There is a low tech mechanical solution. We have a Square D Pumptrol pressure switch with a low pressure cut off. If the well pump is not able to maintain a minimum press the switch cuts power to the pump. There is an external level you need to press to turn the pump back on to build up minimum pressure.

[@daultonruff2281]

Video was really informative and I've shared it with my son who will try again to install the "Pump Saver" using the video as a guide. We also may consult our pump problem guy, but he may not be informed of all the information in this video. Thank you very much for your explanations. I had not educated myself about my equipment, but now I have to.

[@stephenbruce8320]

Absolutely open it up lets see what's inside.

[@chriskofer1159]

I followed the Amazon link and the price was much higher than you suggested.

[@robertcalkjr.8325]

Thanks Martin! I don't know much about those pumps but I can remember my dad telling me that his pump had a sensor built inside of his pump that would shut the pump down if it lost water pressure. Or maybe I misunderstood him??

[@tawkrucer9104]

Ni

[@shamanking5195]

we use the symcom 777 , we have about 300 of them currently in use.

[@PJ-ee5mc]

I know that this unit has an adjustable feature to delay the RESET/RESTART of the unit. But is there a builtin feature that delays the startup of the pump each time it starts normally (not after a reset, just a regular startup)? I use my pump for irrigation and would like to see a slight delay in the start of my pump in order to give the water valves a moment to open first. Curious to know if there is a bit of a delay.

[@jessiebauer816]

I'm installing an alternating relay for a sump pump application and I'm thinking of employing the pump saver in the case of stuck-on float condition. Do you think the 115V model is sensitive enough to detect power and current changes in small sump pits?

[@Lonepine_Bison]

I had this device installed (on my second pump like you) and it tripped yesterday but displayed no lights. Not Green, Red or even flashing. Any idea's?

[@daultonruff2281]

My pump is "rapidly recycling" which is in the manual, but our pump mechanic says this unit will not address that problem. My pump has been replaced three times in 30 years, and I would like to not do that again. We tried to install this unit last night for several hours-could not get it to work- and pump would not come back on after fiddling with it, until we gave up and closed up for the night, then it came on and worked fine..so far. We have a 5 hd gal tank and a 3 hp submersible pump. I just installed a new "sniffer" air release valve, and am wondering if I need to replace the gage float unit, or do I need to do something with the pressure regulator. Manual for this unit is not for easy DIY installation I think. No color code, or wiring details.

[@TheLtrentlage]

Rapid cycling is generally caused by a bad float if you have a non-bladder type pressure tank, The unit will protect from short cycling if it occurs four times in a minute it shuts it down.

[@daultonruff2281]

@@TheLtrentlage Thank you for your reply. I actually have a 3 hundred gallon tank. We finally called our pump person who came out and changed the air bleeder valve on the control valve and it seemed to calm things down. He told us that the "pump saver" does not control recycling, even though it says it does in the instructions. We gave up on trying to install it. and we are considering a giant 3 thousand gallon tank system. We'll see if that ever happens.

[@spencerhansen8374]

@@daultonruff2281 he explained in the video how the rapid cycle setting is affected by being wired upstream vs downstream. Your "well" guy may have wired it in such a way as to not be monitoring for cycle and didn't bother to follow the instructions to manually set up the monitoring. If he claims it won't do something the manufacturer says it will he may not be up to speed on this product.

[@SandMan50Kal]

Excellent video! Very well made. Thanks for the break down.

[@jdgower1]

Based on the apparent indication that the circuitry uses line, or mains, frequency for it's clock function, I'm not so sure I understand how the unit could work with the pressure switch on the line side. I understand that the EEPROM could record a start/stop in non-volatile memory, but if the power is dropped to the unit, how does it's clock function know how long it is in an un-powered state without the line frequency to run the clock? There would have to be a battery or a pretty nice sized capacitor in there to power something like a 555 chip in order for it to track time during an un-powered state, but if that is so, then why not use the 555 for all the timing functions instead of line voltage frequency?

[@FishFind3000]

Does the pump saver do anything for power surges?

[@mjlorton]

No, not as far as I can tell.

[@pomonabill220]

I am assuming that line brown is hot and line blue is neutral? In that case, shouldn't the brown be switched by the relay?

[@mjlorton]

No, in this case it's 220 volt split phase, there is no neutral being used. Both lines are live / hot. The neutral in the USA split phase system is used to get 110 volt between one of the live / hot lines and the neutral. It might be worth doing a video on the topic as I was confused about it when we moved here. The wiring you see from that transformer is not the typical USA colour coding. It's why I mention not do go by the wiring I'm testing on my bench.

[@adon8672]

@@mjlorton I sincerely think a video on USA vs European and UK wiring system will be very helpful. You may kindly address the question of what kind of equipment work on both and what doesn't.

[@pomonabill220]

Wouldn't a dead headed pump draw more than full load, but less than locked rotor?

[@mjlorton]

I also initially thought that...but both Dry well and dead head are triggered / tripped by the same condition on this device - lower power draw.

[@SuperBrainAK]

it depends on the type of pump, a piston type pump would probably see a higher pressure higher load, but there would need to be a pressure relief right after the pump that would open and then the pump will run with normal load. if it is an impeller type pump the pressure can only get so high until the pump stops flowing water. this is because it uses the centrifugal force of the water moving around the impeller, if it is blocked then the water just spins around with the impeller and does not leave the pump housing, and since the water is now moving the same speed as the impeller then the motor does not need to accelerate the water faster and it can run freely creating a low load on the motor. I hope this was informative

[@jdgower1]

@@SuperBrainAK Exactly. The difference is based on if the pump is 'positive displacement' pump- such as a piston, bellows, or gear pump - or if it is a 'centrifugal' pump - typically an impeller pump of some sort. Kinda like a desk fan. If you block the inlet or outlet of a desk fan, it doesn't move any air - it just swirls it around, and that takes less power once the air is swirling and has the gained inertia. The hidden problem with a dead head situation though, is this - When you continuously swirl a fluid in a relatively closed space, it heats up. And practically all the mechanical motion by the motor is now being converted to heat, since it's not being used to do actual mechanical work. It won't take long for that water to heat up hella hot, and then very bad things start to happen. O-rings on the seals can melt, some mechanical seals have ceramic seal seats that are prone to failure from thermal shock, steam bubbles hitting check valves - there's just a world of bad things scenarios to worry about. In my 35+ years of industrial maintenance, I have always just found it much easier and more convenient to avoid dead head situations from the start.

[@SuperBrainAK]

Lazy D certainly, this is an intriguing device which is definitely worth the investment

[@nathanhankins2791]

No a dry pump will pull low amps it’s easier for the pump to spin without water. Water=load and load=amps no water usually equals low amps

[@electronic7979]

Nice video 👍

[@GeorgeZapo]

Thank you very much!

[@malgailany]

Very nice!

[@malgailany]

I hope to see a teardown for the PumpSaver and perhaps trying to read the IR information using IR sensor + logic analyzer or some MCU.

[@CDN_Torsten]

Thanks Martin for showing the operation of this device in detail. As for the product...it's a bit disappointing. For a device that costs as much as this does, it has a user interface of $5 gadget.

[@ytfp]

Seems as if you would have made a pump saves ages ago out of an arduino. Even a simple float switch would have done In a pinch.

[@tawkrucer9104]

Ord