shallow well pump question

Hello there..I found this forum while in search for help with a shallow well . I read almost every topic here dealing with pumps & wells, I did not see one with my perticular problem, if it has already been addressed here and I overlook it then I appologize.

We have two wells, one well is a deepwell which has Iron water. the other is a shallow well which does not have as much Iron as the deep well. When we purchased our home last fall (2005) there was a old house beside the one we live in. Our home had already been started just roughted in, but the prevous owners already had the deepwell ran to the new house, so we hooked into it..All has worked fine untill about 5 days ago, the deepwell went dry.( we had not had rain in 3 weeks) after a day or so it kinda built up enough to flush a commod or run it for justa few mins then it would be out again..

We decided to run the shallow well into the house, it already had a 1/2 horse pwer pump but when we had the old house tore down we disconnected it and put it in building, after having it all hooked and all, the pump pumped but the pressure would not build up (40 is what it is set to) it would only hit round 28 or so..the pressure tank is only 1 1/2 yrs old along with the pressure switch, checkvalve, and all the other stuff involved there.(sorry dont know the correct temology). after the pressure would only build to 28 or so the pump would not cut off , it would just keep running..We thought it was the foot vaulve gotta new one. still didnt help. someone told us it was probably the pump wasnt strong enough..to pump 12'up..70-80' to house..so we went bought new pump..Shur-dri 1hp shallow well jet pump.got it all hook up..

now when you kick it on it clicks..pressure doesnt really build up. it has a pressure switch preset on it..if you hold a button in it will run if you do not it will just kick on and off consitanly..we have checked everything we can think of and still not sure how to fix this..if the pump does run (after adjusting the pressureswitch on tank) it doesnt kick off and the pressure tank doesnt seem to have/hold pressure.


hope that makes sense...termology and relating thinking to typing is a great task..

any suggestions would be greatly appreicated,Thank you for your time and input..

Your first pump had a plugged jet, that's why it would only make 28 lbs. The second pump sounds like it's pumping to a waterlogged tank or there is no tank installed. If it's clicking on and off rapidly, there is no where to store water and pressure, so the pump builds pressure immediately, shuts off, drops to turn on pressure and repeats itself. This tank may be new but full of water and no good, or it may have too much air pressure. If the air pressure in the tank is higher than the high setting of the pressure switch, no water will go in.

Who would name a water pump Shur-dri?

bob...

speedbump said:

Who would name a water pump Shur-dri?

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Pentair? Was a subsiderary of F.E. Myers...

Rancher

It's the other way around. Pentair own's Myers along with a bazillion other companies that yielded to the pressure.

bob...

Right, I knew it could be read both ways after I posted it, was to lazy to edit it, Shur-dri was one of the pump/well part names used by Myers (not sure if it was at one time a separate company), now owned by Pentair which has bought out most of the industry.

Better?

Rancher

if the tank was waterlogged would it still hold airpressure? when testing the tank it read at what it was surpose to according to the label on the pressure tank..

Did you measure the air pressure in the tank when the tank was empty of water?

Rancher

sbradj said:

now when you kick it on it clicks..pressure doesnt really build up. it has a pressure switch preset on it..if you hold a button in it will run if you do not it will just kick on and off consitanly..we have checked everything we can think of and still not sure how to fix this..if the pump does run (after adjusting the pressureswitch on tank) it doesnt kick off and the pressure tank doesnt seem to have/hold pressure.

Click to expand...

Did you prime the jet pump?

Rancher

yes and yes..when we tested the pressure in the tank it read the same when it was empty and when it was full.there was no difference

Shur-dri was one of the pump/well part names used by Myers

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I saw one Shur-dri in all the years I drilled wells and serviced pumps in Michigan. That's how popular they were up there. But I have never known Myers to have an off shute name of any sort until they started with the Water Ace brand that they sell to the Big Box stores.

yes and yes..when we tested the pressure in the tank it read the same when it was empty and when it was full.there was no difference Today 12:30 PM

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That would be a large coincidence. I think your doing something wrong. Or your gauge is stuck on that pressure.

bob...

sbradj said:

yes and yes..when we tested the pressure in the tank it read the same when it was empty and when it was full.there was no difference

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The air pressure in the tank should be set at 2 psi less than the cuton pressure of the pressure switch. The air pressure after the tank fills with water will be the same as the pressure gauge on the pipe.

So... something is wrong.

Rancher

Thank you for your input ..Yes we found that out the tank needed more air . We also found out our problems was coming from the checkvalve that was next to pressure tank and the pressure regulator(?) . guess the pressures was working against one another .thanks again for your time and help.

The first step in troubleshooting is to know and/or understand how something is supposed to work; or how it actually works.

Your experience here shows what happens when we don't know how it works and just start assuming and changing parts....

I see another possible assumption, that is that the other well is dry. It doesn't have to be, the pump's inlet may be blocked by rust or IRB. Or you may have a pump or cable problem.