Diagnosing massive water consumption

[okayrj]

So the property I live on has a fairly standard well system, where the water is pumped into a 2000 gal storage tank and then pumped to the pressure tank from there — at least I assume it’s standard from the diagrams I’ve seen, but I have only been working with a well system for a month now, so I’m completely new to a lot of this.

Recently, we’ve started to have a MASSIVE amount of water consumption where the 2000 gal tank will be completely drained after only 24-48hrs, when previously the intermittent pumping was sufficient to keep the tank full. I’ve spent weeks searching for a culprit and chasing down any and all leaks from the pressure tank onwards, and anything I found was repaired, but all were far too small to account for the amount of water being used regardless.

What I’m wondering is — there’s no way for the water in the holding tank to possibly be leaking back down into the well, is there? Seeing as how the fill valve is at the top of the tank and all, I’m assuming there’d be no line running back down into the well for the tank to drain into, right?

And also, barring that, what other potential culprit could there be, other than a leak underground somewhere I’ve yet to discover as it shows no sign of damp ground despite an apparent 2000g/day leakage.

thanks folks, and like I said, I’m new with these well systems so forgive me if I’m wildly confused about how it works altogether or something.

 

[Terry]

Items you can check in the home are things like running toilets. Turn off the water supplies to them and see if the tanks drain down. My mothers place used to see huge water bills sometimes. Her hearing wasn't very good.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[LLigetfa]

So the property I live on has a fairly standard well system, where the water is pumped into a 2000 gal storage tank and then pumped to the pressure tank from there — at least I assume it’s standard from the diagrams I’ve seen,

It is not typical and the piping to a holding tank may vary. If the tank filler is at the top there needs to be an air gap that prevents syphoning back into the well. Check valves cannot be trusted. There is also not a typical piping between the storage tank and pressure tank. These vary by the installer.

Monitor the topside pump for cycling when there is no known water consumption. I have an IP camera on my pressure switch and gauge recording 24/7 to track water usage. Below is a 24 hour summary of pump cycling.

I can tell when the wife forgets to turn off outside hose bibs with leaky garden hoses attached by reviewing the 24 hour graph. I can also drill down to detail and replay any particular time going back many days.

Assuming there is a shutoff valve after the pressure tank, turning it off and watching if the pressure drops could indicate where the water is leaking. An underground leak does not always show at the surface.

 

[LLigetfa]

The water consumption shown on the graph between midnight and 7:00 AM was my iron filter and water softener regenerating.

My water softener has a meter on it and will show consumption.

 

[Bannerman]

You didn't specify how water is pumped from the storage tank (cistern) to supply pressure to the home plumbing.

If a jet pump is located a distance from the cistern, there could be a leak within the line between the cistern and the jet pump and pressure tank.

Another possibility is a leak through the bottom of the cistern that is allowing water to be absorbed into the ground below, with no obvious leak apparent around the tank.

If the cistern is also supplying water for irrigation, an irrigation solinoid valve may not be closing completely, but a large amount of water leaking after the pump should be fairly obvious by the pump frequently cycling even while no water is utilized within the home.

 

[Valveman]

Close the ball valve going to the house. If the pressure drops and the pump comes on, you have a leak down the well.

 

[Reach4]

If you still get water dropping after closing the ball valve to the house, turn off the breaker to the pressure pump. The pressure pump is the one that pumps water from the cistern. Come to think of it, you could also turn off power to the well pump also for this test. Does the cistern level drop?

 

[Bannerman]

Does the cistern level drop?

we’ve started to have a MASSIVE amount of water consumption where the 2000 gal tank will be completely drained after only 24-48hrs,

 

[Reach4]

Talk about a quote out of context! What is your motivation for #8?