Help !! Home Water Pump Problem Help !!

[GoodGuy]

I'm attaching a picture of the water pump at the house that's giving me trouble. My wife called & said we've got a "bad" leak today so went home early to find the small plug that the guage would normally screw into was leaking, the plug had corroded. For the last couple weeks I had a drip at the suction line so I figured, what the heck, fix everything & I did. I replaced the 2 couplers for the lines from the well as well as the 1/4"npt plug. When I changed the 2 well lines I found a lot of carbon type material which was scattered in chunks to which I cleaned out as best I could. When done, I primed the pump & fired it up, everything good thus far. The pressure was increasing until it got to 25psi & then stopped climbing. I have had it set for 50psi so just figured that it was filling tanks & toilet but after 5 minutes it still had not increased. I thought about a defective guage but the pressure switch is on a diiferent line so if the guage was defective the pressure switch still would have tripped. Hmm, no obvious leaks so I tripped the breaker & let the system stand for 10 minutes, there was no pressure drop so it seems that the system & foot valve are in good shape. I said to myself that it's gotta be the pump so I pulled it apart & did find a chunk of the carbon type material jammed in an impeller so I cleaned it out & everything else seems mint & in great shape. Ok, back together, primed & fired up, looked ok until it got to 25psi & wouldn't climb any more. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Well, I'm no plumber so time to call for help but it's now after hours so doesn't look like help is available until the morning; hey, wait a minute, I can contact an expert, actually a whole bunch of them on where else but "TBN". Help Guys, what's wrong here, & am I just not seeing something obvious ??? Thanks !!

 

[NY_Yankees_Fan]

I had a problem where the pressure was too high, would not shut off the pump. I took apart the pressure switch and found it clogged with stuff. Cleaned it out did not help, got a new switch and back to normal. The switch was 17 years old, plumbing parts supply house this is a common problem. Did you try adjusting the pressure switch, mine has two screws high and low cut off.

 

[Egon]

Maybe run the pump for about 10 minutes or so with no backpressure just to see what type of flow you get.

Could the eductor have gotten some scale in it?

Egon

 

[BigAl]

Sounds like maybe the ability of the pump to pressurize the system to 50 pounds is in question . I agree that even if the gauge was defective ,since you have the pressure switch located elsewhere and it is set to 50 PSI shut off it should still work and function corectly . I do have a few questions :

1. Is this the same pump you were using before you had the leak ?
2. Does the pump you have ,come with some kind of a by pass when it hits a certain point of PSI?

HEY !!! I JUST THOUGHT OF THIS !! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

3. Do you have a check valve "between" the pump and the pressure switch ? If you do ,thats your problem . The check valve would hold pressure on the pump gauge when the pump was off ,making you falsley think the water system was showing "no leaks" in the house system when actually there could be . I would look for a open water valve or leak somewhere . You did not open up any outside valves anywhere ? You Sure ? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
It just is to strange to believe that it just stopped working or building pressure .
Big Al

 

[GoodGuy]

Tom..Looked at the pressure switch but it seems like the pump doesn't have the ability to build pressure
Egon..Thought maybe foot valve but system holds pressure and my past experiences with foot valves have been when they were bad, the wouldn't hold pressure. I can't really do a no-backpressure flow test but had pressure at zero & turned everything on in the house then snapped the breaker which should have given the pump a chance to go wide open.
BigAl...I'm thinking that it can't build pressure, Yes same pump, same everything other than well pipe couplers and pipe plug. No by-pass or check valve that I can see or am aware of..from the housing there is a tube that runs to the pressure switch for cut in/cut out.
Thanks thus far...
Eric

 

[bgott]

Cap the pump output. The pump should immediately pump up to the shutoff switch pressure and shut off. If the switch screws up it will lock the pump impeller and overload, tripping the motor overload or the breaker. If it doesn't build enough pressure to kick the switch the impeller is bypassing. You might be able to find a rebuild kit for the pump but it is probably new pump time.

 

[Egon]

A question:

Does the pump have a downhole eductor? eg. jet pump?

As it was working fine and scale was in the system I keep thinking scale where it should not be.

Egon

 

[GoodGuy]

Egon...Yes the eductor is in the well & you hit the problem. "UPDATE" called my plumber this am & he tells me that we've got to dig the well up & replace the foot valve. I'll put the hoe back on this afternoon & dig it up. FYI - the minute I told him that I had changed the couplers & that the pump pressure wouldn't go above 25psi, his remark was "****, know what the problem is but you're not gonna like it". Regardless, we'll dig it up & fix it, Thanks for your help !!

 

[RockyMnt1]

Some help please.

I also am on a well with a well pump that pumps water to a 1500 gal cistern. A jet pump draws water from the cistern into the house and presurizes the water system to about 40 PSI (Three story house).

I have never heard of a foot valve. Can someone offer an explaination of where this valve fits into the system and what function that the foot valve performs??.

Thanks

 

[Logan]

The foot valve is on the end of the pipe that goes into the well. It closes when the pump shuts off to keep the pump from draining and losing its prime., or this is what my well man told me. They are easy to change on a shallow well. In the case of my lawn sprinkler pump it was only about 30 ft. deep. I just cut the pipe and pulled it out of the ground. The foot valve unscrewed from the end. It got it at a hardware store for about $25.