Persistent Pressure Problem

Greetings,

I recently returned from a long deployment to find that the water pressure in my house had become weak. The guage on the pressure tank would always stabilize at 30 PSI. During my trouble shooting, with a lot of help from the posts in this forum, I discovered that the bladder in the pressure tank was shot.

I just replaced the 80 gal pressure tank with a new 86 gal tank. I also replaced the 40/60 pressure switch and have exactly 38 PSI precharge. But alas, the same symptom persists. If I open a spigot, the pressure drops, when I close the spigot, the pressure stabilizes at 30 PSI. Also, I've noticed that the pump is running continuously. The pump is a 4 inch deep well submersible, 1 HP, 10 GPM (Monarch MST10-100LP) that's about 4 years old.

I have little or no experience with wells but should I assume that if the pump is running constantly, providing 30 PSI, that that's all the pump is capable of and that I need a new pump? Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Doug

Two things. Either the pumps impellers have melted somewhat from running dry. Or there is a leak somewhere. The leak could be down the well, underground where it comes into the home or in your plumbing system somewhere.

bob...

Thanks for the reply Bob. Do you know of a way to test for either or both of those? Preferably, one that a novice plumber can handle...

Thanks,
Doug

You are best off to have a guy that specializes in well pumps look at it. He will have the knowledge, equipment, and experience to see the job through ...

You are best off to have a guy that specializes in well pumps look at it. He will have the knowledge, equipment, and experience to see the job through ...

Click to expand...

I agree with that statement unless you feel like you can pull the pump out yourself.

Usually when I hear the pump is one horse or higher with a lower number of gpm like in your case 10 gpm. That tells me that the water level is below 100 feet. That also means the pump, pipe and the water in all that pipe is going to be very heavy. One little slip and everything can go sailing down the well. Now you need the guy with all the right tools and equipment and a lot more money, cause he's going to have to go fishing.

bob...