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The sewage has been overflowing in the backyard: the pump does not seem to be receiving power (voltage).

The sewage pump controller contains:

enter image description here

There seems to be two assemblies for pump wiring: an upper assembly with many wires tied to it and a lower assembly with a red reset switch.

What are the names of these components / assemblies? I would like to Google them so I can understand their function and replacement.

The system is 30 years old: any suggested common failure modes are appreciated. I intend to start with the capacitors. Thank you

Capacitor 1:

enter image description here

Capacitor 2:

enter image description here

gatorback
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2 Answers2

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It's a magnetic motor/pump starter aka a relay.

To test if it's the relay, apply power to it (eg moving the floater that activates the pump) and see if you hear a loud "clack". Then test if power is coming in and out of the relay.

I think that one has thermal overload protection to protect the motor. If the motor is old, it could be triggering the thermal protection. So let it cool down after a failure before you test the relay. If it trips, look at the pump motor.

If it's the relay, see if you can get the model number off it. Square D sells parts for its motor starters, although usually the best course of action is to replace the whole thing.

Cheery
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A contactor (also known as a relay, but big ones tend to be called contactors) and a circuit breaker (possibly with GFCI function, but it's so massively corroded I can't tell for sure - one of the electricians may recognize it even in that state.)

The circuit breaker appears to be tripped, based on the word "trip" with an arrow and the position of the lever there. Given the exposed terminals, turn off the supply external to this box and only then try resetting it. It may just trip again when you restore power from the external supply.

Ecnerwal
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