Pressure Switch Repair and Replace w/pics

[jluksic]

Submersible well pump, State bladder tank, Square-D 40/60 pressure switch, CSV-1Z... great system worked well for years (125k gal/yr average) until Saturday

normal household Saturday business but well pump did not supply to house at the low pressure point (40 psi)

normal troubleshooting for a non-well expert:

1. bladder pressure @ 38 psi - check
2. manually closed pressure switch points and pump provided water until I stopped @ 60psi - check
3. ran down system again but pressure switch points did not close

so guessed that pressure switch was not "seeing" the low pressure, hence not closing points to allow pump circuit to activate, so...

removed pressure switch and knew immediately why...

the copper pipe that connected pressure switch to "tee" was completely clogged with - best described as - "calcified chunks of sediment" and being on a 14 year well was probably not surprising

cleaned the pipe, replaced the switch with generic Square-D HD special, wired it up and bam! perfect

pics of crud, assembly and pressure switch

and of course beautiful Colorado skiing last weekend

[valveman]

Crud under the pressure switch is a normal problem. Glad you got it fixed OK. Looks like you switched from a Low pressure cut off type switch to a standard switch. This is fine except you won't have any dry well or broken line protection if that matters to you.

[jluksic]

I know about the low pressure cutoff and looked for one but HD and Lws only had generic Square-D without. The CSV1Z works like a charm. Thanks.