Electrical Wiring Well Pump – How to Safely Connect a 240v Shallow Well Pump to a Switch

240velectricalwell-pumpwiring

I have a shallow well supplying utility water on a rural property. It's currently plugged into a standard 120v outlet. I'll be running a dedicated 240v circuit using 12/2 cable so I can use the pump's optional 240v mode. I'd like to use a common double-pole switch (four-way) to allow us to disable the pump when we're not on the property rather than always unplugging it.

Should I hard-wire the pump's cord into the switch in a junction box, or should I install an aftermarket 240v plug? If the latter, what plug type is appropriate?

enter image description here

Best Answer

I'll be running a dedicated 240v circuit

...so turn off the breaker to the dedicated circuit.

a common double-pole switch (four-way)

...will almost certainly not be rated for the motor loading - that's going to take an uncommon switch or a contactor, but your dedicated circuit will have a common breaker that handles the load just fine.

I infer that the motor is 3/4 HP despite it being shy about that, since the amperage at 240VAC is similar to my own 3/4 HP (submersible) pump. So your switch will need to be rated for that motor loading (or more.)

Assuming any remotely normal pump set up, you can also switch off the pressure switch manually by flipping a lever on it.

If the pump is "Cord-and-Plug" connected with a flexible cord not suited for in-wall use a NEMA 6-15 or NEMA 6-20 would be a suitable plug/receptacle pairing depending on the breaker amperage, but you might want to consider a somewhat more secure pairing such as an L6-15 or L6-20 depending on the breaker amperage. However, the vast majority of well pump installations dispense with a plug/receptacle as an additional point of failure (and pointless expense for something that's not normally unplugged) and run cable or conduit all the way to the pump, so rather than change the cord end, you would remove the cord and wire from the junction box with a suitable cable or conduit (mine is MC, I'm not fond of rodent-chewed wires.)