shallow well jet pump loses prime at 50psi

I have a shallow well pump and a sand point that have been working very well for over 10 years now, a changed the sand point once in that time and a few PVBC pipes but thats about all.

This spring I fired up the pump and after an hour or so the hot water tank was full and allw as well pump shut off at 55 psi.

the last 2 weeks I start the pump and it goes great, check valve gets ice cold as it starts pumping and the pump goes up to about 35-40 psi in about 20 minutes..........About the time it hits 50 psi the pump and the check valve start getting hot and the prime appears to be gone. I re-prime the pump and start it again and it continues as before fine until about 50 psi.

The sand point is in about 11 ft of water down 15 ft.

Any ideas what is going on here?

Thanks

If it takes that long to produce water, the Screen is probably plugged again. The first time the Screen is installed is the one that will last the longest. The second one and all those after will last less time because of the mineral your leaving down there when you pull the Screen.

It sounds like you have a clog in the sand point, which would cause the negative gage pressure in the suction line to get so high that the water turns to vapor. Either that or you have a break in the suction line that's causing the pump to suck air. Either way the pump heating up isn't doing it any good.

How do i clean the sand point (back pressure) or replace it.

How do i clean the sand point (back pressure from a compressor up to 90 psi) or replace it.

Forget the compressor. Either change it or use NU-Well Tablets.

bob...

I assume the tablets will drop to the bottom of the well, dissolve the lime deposits, so you let them do their work then flush the water out to the backyard for a while?

Drop them one at a time as per their instructions. Then you must keep water running into the well to dissolve the tablets. This not only dissolves them, but the head pressure from keeping the casing topped off helps push the acid through the plug which is much bigger than the screen itself.

bob...