DontHoldYaBreath
New Member
Hey all, this is my first post, and I'm doing this on behalf of my parents pump. They have had a refurbished, above ground, pump for about a year now, after their previous pump burned out. Now, the pump seems to constantly run when the air conditioning is on, and they are worried it is going to burn out. I know next to nothing about plumbing, but I would like to think I'm pretty good at problem solving, so I'll include all relevant information I can think of.
My dad was initially convinced it was the pressure switch, but it seems to be fine, turning on at 20-ish PSI and turning off at 40-ish PSI, the issue seems to be that it will never reach 40, which used to not be the case.
Looking on the internet I found a couple of common causes of this: First of all, leaks somewhere in the system. There is a small one in the pipes leading to the air conditioning, but I don't think it is enough to drop the pressure, this is much less than a faucet running, and it has been leaking for at least 15-20 years. Furthermore, when the air conditioning is turned off, and no water is running in the house, the pressure stays constant, maybe dropping a half PSI in 10 minutes or so (and I don't think it drops any more than that, could be me reading the gauge inconsistently), nothing that would prevent our pressure from climbing.
I also read that poor pump performance can be caused by lack of Prime? The pump was primed when it was replaced a year ago, I'm not sure of any way to check without taking the pump apart, which my dad is very insistent that I don't do. Could this be it? The pump sounds good, and actually seems to be a little quieter than on first install (per his memory). If there was a lack of prime, would he have sporadic water pressure or be able to hear something mechanically wrong?
Another possible cause could be dropping water table levels. This started happening around when the neighboring plot of land is being sub developed, specifically they were drilling wells. However the houses are still being constructed and there should be no water left. Furthermore, another neighbour (in the same general direction as the subdivision development, albeit another couple hundred feet away) is a Strawberry farmer who has in the past pumped tons of water for irrigation and to cover crops so they don't freeze. This has not caused them problems before. I do not know any of the specifications of how deep the well is or how much water is above it, but I would assume if irrigation hasn't caused a shortage, drilling won't cause one.
When the Air conditioning is turned on (and the pump is off), the water pressure fairly quickly drops (about 5 psi immediately) then the rest at a steady rate, all the way to the pumps cut-on point. The pump cuts on, quickly jumps from 21-ish PSI to 28/29 PSI, climbs slowly to about 30 PSI then no gain. As long as the air conditioning is on, the pump continues working without increasing the pressure. Once the AC shuts off, the pump fairly quickly jumps to 35 PSI then slowly climbs to 40 (the cutoff pressure).
I suggested that as a temporary fix we can reduce the cutoff pressure to 35, and maybe give the pump a break every time the AC shuts off (assuming it continues jumping to that point with adjusted cut on/off points). It makes sense to me that as the pressure gradient gets higher, the pump has a harder time pumping, for example, it is easier to pump from 30 ->35 than it is to pump from 35->40. Is this a correct assumption?
I think that is all the relevant information, please let me know if you can help point me/us in the right direction.
My dad was initially convinced it was the pressure switch, but it seems to be fine, turning on at 20-ish PSI and turning off at 40-ish PSI, the issue seems to be that it will never reach 40, which used to not be the case.
Looking on the internet I found a couple of common causes of this: First of all, leaks somewhere in the system. There is a small one in the pipes leading to the air conditioning, but I don't think it is enough to drop the pressure, this is much less than a faucet running, and it has been leaking for at least 15-20 years. Furthermore, when the air conditioning is turned off, and no water is running in the house, the pressure stays constant, maybe dropping a half PSI in 10 minutes or so (and I don't think it drops any more than that, could be me reading the gauge inconsistently), nothing that would prevent our pressure from climbing.
I also read that poor pump performance can be caused by lack of Prime? The pump was primed when it was replaced a year ago, I'm not sure of any way to check without taking the pump apart, which my dad is very insistent that I don't do. Could this be it? The pump sounds good, and actually seems to be a little quieter than on first install (per his memory). If there was a lack of prime, would he have sporadic water pressure or be able to hear something mechanically wrong?
Another possible cause could be dropping water table levels. This started happening around when the neighboring plot of land is being sub developed, specifically they were drilling wells. However the houses are still being constructed and there should be no water left. Furthermore, another neighbour (in the same general direction as the subdivision development, albeit another couple hundred feet away) is a Strawberry farmer who has in the past pumped tons of water for irrigation and to cover crops so they don't freeze. This has not caused them problems before. I do not know any of the specifications of how deep the well is or how much water is above it, but I would assume if irrigation hasn't caused a shortage, drilling won't cause one.
When the Air conditioning is turned on (and the pump is off), the water pressure fairly quickly drops (about 5 psi immediately) then the rest at a steady rate, all the way to the pumps cut-on point. The pump cuts on, quickly jumps from 21-ish PSI to 28/29 PSI, climbs slowly to about 30 PSI then no gain. As long as the air conditioning is on, the pump continues working without increasing the pressure. Once the AC shuts off, the pump fairly quickly jumps to 35 PSI then slowly climbs to 40 (the cutoff pressure).
I suggested that as a temporary fix we can reduce the cutoff pressure to 35, and maybe give the pump a break every time the AC shuts off (assuming it continues jumping to that point with adjusted cut on/off points). It makes sense to me that as the pressure gradient gets higher, the pump has a harder time pumping, for example, it is easier to pump from 30 ->35 than it is to pump from 35->40. Is this a correct assumption?
I think that is all the relevant information, please let me know if you can help point me/us in the right direction.
