piston pump difficulties

[djblanchard]

Hi there,
I recently discovered this sit and after reading acouple of the threads thought that maybe I could find the help I need to solve my problem here.
We bought an old general store with an attached residence a couple of years before. Recently we started doing some renovations and have began to have problems with our water system. We have a completely metal piston pump attached to a reservoir and which then feeds the house and store. There haven't been any changes in the demand or the number of fixtures, infact the new toilets are low flow so demand has been reduced. The problem we seem to be having is multi levelled. Most mornings there seems to be no, or very little water in the reservoir. After a minute or two the water starts to sputter and sometimes comes to a complete stop. The pump seems to drawing but has lost prime. After a couple of minutes down in the basement, I can get it pumping again and usually for the rest of the day it meets demand.The basement isn't finished, there is a lot of water on the floor around the pump,
I think it is leaking out from the pump itself. Tere is no check valve between the pump and the reservoir. Is it possible that the reservoir is emptying overnight?
I changed the leathers, the rubbers and the gaskets, top and bottom, on the
pump itself. The first day was great the pump brought the reservoir up to 60psi, cutting in between 30psi and 60. After that the old troubles seemed to return. I 'm not sure if I have to repressurize the tank add acheck valve or repack the bearings behind the piston. Any suggestions?
Help.
Thanks,
David

[Bob NH]

A piston pump has valves in it that are like check valves. They may leak a bit so you could put a check valve (the kind with a spring) as near as possible to the discharge of the pump.

[speedbump]

What are you calling a reservoir, the pressure tank or an atmospheric tank that the pump pulls from?

bob...

[djblanchard]

The tank I am refering to is the pressure tank. The water is pulled directly from a well.
I think that the problem might well be solved. Yesterday I tightened up a bolt on the pistomn shaft which seems to have stemmed the leak from the interior of the pump. The floor seems to be drying up. So far the pressure seems to be holding around 55 psi. I'm waiting a couple of days to see were we are at.
It seems good today. The tank isn't emptying over night.
I'm still wondering if I should try to pressurize the tank to see if the water pressure would not fluctuate as much from high to low pressure, full or near empty.
Thanks,
David

[speedbump]

Don't tighten that bolt up too much. It is better to let it leak ever so slightly to keep from wearing out the shaft.

Pressurizing the tank with air will give a better drawdown (more water between cycles) but won't help with the pressures. Try setting your pressure switch to turn in on at 40 instead of 30 and off at 60. That might help some.

A check valve can be used, but in the well at the bottom of the droppipe (if you have droppipe is the best place for a check valve.

bob...