I need water well advise

[jayste]

Ok fella's. The water well at the farm house needs attention. Besides the obvious leaky faucet and stool that needs attention the well is cycling about every 15 seconds. On for a few seconds and then off for 15. Give me some ideas, please. Pressure tank? It's old. I replaced the pump last year. I guess I need to check the pressure in the tank?.....Let the help begin!

Thanks,

Jay

 

[CurlyDave]

Waterlogged pressure tank?

 

[CrownHawg]

Waterlogged pressure tank?

Exactly! You must have air in your pressure tank to "compress". Water will not compress and your pump is simply hitting the shutoff every few seconds. If your pressure tank is very old, it either has a leaking air bladder, or does not have a bladder at all. These tanks are not very expensive, and can extend the life of your pump tremendously.

 

[dodge man]

Yeah a good place to start is to make sure your pressure tank has enough air pressure. If you vent a little air out of it, you shouldn't get any water with it.

There is also a control unit the senses the pressure in you system and tell the pump to turn on, that could be bad. Do you have a pressure gauge? If you do watch it and see at what pressure the pump is turning off and on.

We had the same problem you do and it turned out to be a short in the wiring where the wires went into the well head, but I would say that is an unusual problem.

 

[rus_geek]

Is the pump cycling when you're not using any water? If so, there is a water leak somewhere between the pump and the pressure tank. Had a cracked housing a few years back that caused the pump to run 24/7, but it would still supply 30psi to the house.

-rus-

 

[studor]

Pressure in the tank should be about two Lbs lower than the low pressure cut in point on the pump control. Is yours an in well pump or jet pump?

 

[scott_vt]

Ok fella's. The water well at the farm house needs attention. Besides the obvious leaky faucet and stool that needs attention the well is cycling about every 15 seconds. On for a few seconds and then off for 15. Give me some ideas, please. Pressure tank? It's old. I replaced the pump last year. I guess I need to check the pressure in the tank?.....Let the help begin!

Thanks,

Jay

Good Afternoon Jay,
I think your pump may be damaged.

If there is no water running and the pump continues to cycle on and off, the overload protector inside the pump is whats responsible for kicking the unit on and off. Once the pump pressure reaches the point where the pressure switch, located at the bottom of your pressure tank, has reached maximum pressure it shouldnt cycle anymore at that point !

You can test this theory my checking how many amps the pump is drawing, measured at the pressure switch. I dont think it should be drawing more than 6 amps, if its drawing more, then this is whats kicking the overload on the pump. Once the puimp cools back down, then the pump will start again...

I would check this first. Its an easy check !

Other potential problems,

bad bladder tank as others have mentioned

could be a slight break in the line from the well to the house.

potentially bad pressure switch. I doubt it...

Keep us updated !

BTW Im talking about an in well pump... submersible pump

 

[tommu56]

1st vote waterlogged non bladder tank or bad bladder tank

Do you have a gauge on it?
Any valves between tank and pump?
Any valves from tank to house?
Does it creep back down then come up when pump starts back up.

As some one asked jet or submersible?


tom

 

[Egon]

Check for leaks downhole or underground.
Check check valve
check for leaks above ground and in system
Recharge pressure tank


To check for leaks from pump to tank outlet close off outlet of tank. If pump cycles then you have a leak somewhere going back to pump.

 

[kenstrac]

1 Tank is water logged
2 check valve in well leaking by or stuck
if you find it's the check valve you can install one between the pump and the tank right at the tank

 

[Kays Supply]

While we are on pumps can I steal some info? I installed pumps many years ago. I have used a pressure regulator on deep well submersibles with very good results. The newest thing is variable speed pumps. Does anyone out there have one? and is it really all that great?

 

[simonmeridew]

Your check valve is leaking back. (About a $15 dollar fitting.) If you have a pressure guage visible somewhere in the system, shut your pump off (probably at the breaker box) and immediately watch the pressure guage. I'll bet you'll see the pressure dropping rapidly, soon back to zero. Even if the pressure tank is totally waterlogged (unlikely), the pump will not short cycle if no one is using water,
simonmeridew

 

[8934]

In this instance I vote bad check valve or leaking pipe.

However, since many people have mentioned a "bad bladder tank" you should know that they occasionally leak down, and pressure should be checked in them at least annually. Turn off power to pump, turn on faucet, drain storage tank, check pressure with tire pressure guage. Pressure required will vary depending upon type of tank, and pressure setting on pressure switch.

If you want to save power, and extend life of pump install a second tank, it will reduce the number of starts on your pump dramaticly.

 

[jayste]

Great! All great responses. I got side tracked yesterday so I'll be doing some checking this afternoon when I get home and I'll respond back tomorrow with what I find. BTW, it's a down hole pump with a top side control switch box. My system does have an inline shut off valve in the well house on the main line going out to the house and outside hydrants.

Jay

 

[tommu56]

Great! All great responses. I got side tracked yesterday so I'll be doing some checking this afternoon when I get home and I'll respond back tomorrow with what I find. BTW, it's a down hole pump with a top side control switch box. My system does have an inline shut off valve in the well house on the main line going out to the house and outside hydrants.

Jay

I would start by shutting the valve off to the outside stuff

tom

 

[jayste]

I would start by shutting the valve off to the outside stuff

tom

My thoughts exactly! Thanks Tom!

Jay

 

[sal64]

pipe from well to house leaking my dad had same prob.

 

[jimmyj]

I have had the great fortune of having every possible thing that could go wrong with the pump and well workings in fact go wrong (almost always in a storm in the middle of the night when I have an important day at work tomorrow!!). I'm with the bad check (foot) valve on this one.

Suggestion for your comtemplation. If you put it all back together, do it so that you can zone areas by installing shut offs. Use good ones though as the "tap style" reduce water flow. I have 3 zones to help me find where problems are:

1. 1 shutoff between the pump and pressure tank
2. 1 shutoff between the pressure tank and house
3. The "normal" shutoff inside the house

It makes it a lot easier to solution the troubles if you can ID the zone where the water loss is.

 

[timswi]

I'd go with the bladder tank, had that happen a couple of time exactly as you explained it (with the water running). Don't think it did much with the water off, once the system recharged with water pressure.

 

[valley]

Well! they already told you. if your baldder[in the tank] is torn. the checkvalves always leak a bit, you only have to lose a couple gallons and what pressure had been built by the pump is gone. I didn't read every post you may have heard this. Good luck