Yet another self cycling pump

[fohrman]

Here's the scoop:

Just bought dream house
Deep well submersible.
Most likely original install from 1975 (27 years)

Well pump was cycling every 15 minutes, with no water in use
Pump was cutting in at 50 and turning off at 70
(Suspect regulator tuning sabotage from unscrupulous person)

I drained the system, tank was reading 15 pounds.
I replaced reg with a 30-50
I charged tank to 28
Tank held pressure 24 hours

Fired it up.
Pump now cuts in at 30 and drops out at 50

However......... Pump now cycles (problem obviously not fixed) every half hour

Should I just "man up" and pull the pump and replace the pipe and pump from there back to the tank?

[sammyhydro11]

Fohrman,
that might be alot of work for nothing. I would try to pinpoint where your problem could be before doing any work.Make sure the pump isn't running,shut the main valve off, put your ear to that line going out to the well,and listen to see if you hear any water going back.This assuming that you don't have acheck valve at the tank. Do the same thing to your holding tank. If you hear water going back to the well then i would go outside to see if there is any water in the yard or out by the well casing. If nothing in the yard or well,i would take the well cap off and listen for water spraying. If you have a well seal i would put your ear to the line that goes into the seal and listen for water there. A well seal is a round fitting that sits in the casing with the drop pipe for the pump going right down the center of it.

SAM

[Rancher]

Pump was cutting in at 50 and turning off at 70
(Suspect regulator tuning sabotage from unscrupulous person)

This may have been a normal increase in the pressure switch setting, I have mine set at 48/68, I perfer higher pressures.

However......... Pump now cycles (problem obviously not fixed) every half hour

Tank is losing water, it either goes to the house or back down the well or the third less likely source is a leak in the piping to the house. If you can shut off the water to the house, try that and see if there is still a loss, if so, then it may be a leak down the drop pipe, or more likely the foot valve at the bottom of the well.

Rancher

[vaplumber]

. If you can shut off the water to the house, try that and see if there is still a loss, if so, then it may be a leak down the drop pipe, or more likely the foot valve at the bottom of the well.

Rancher

Or in the case of the submersible pump the check valve on or in the pump. Note: The check valve on/in the submersible pump is often refered to as the foot valve.

[fohrman]

Mystery solved (somewhat). I popped the cap off the well and I'm hearing a high pressure spray down under. I'm going to pull the pump. Hopefully, it's not 3 miles down.

Also, there's a six foot cable, with a loop on the end. I hear it's called a "snappy". It took all my willpower not to give it a yank. I hear it's a good way to drop the whole dang thing to the center of the earth.

I'll be sending a new pump down, as it makes no sense to me to send the old one back, especially, since it's probably cycled a half a million times.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll repost when I'm leak free.

[fohrman]

Problem solved:

Bad pipe threads at connection to pitless adapter. Some bad person used
a 2 inch piece of black pipe that had disolved. Replaced with brass. All is "well"

It was fun digging by hand through six feet of clay!