shared well, neighbors ose pressure

I share a well with my neighbors who live about 20 vertical feet up a hill from me. They have an issue with losing (completely) water flow sporadically. They had someone come to inspect the system who raised the cut-in pressure from 40 to about 48 psig. Cut out is at 60 psig. That helped for a while, but they recently had the problem again. I did some troubleshooting and found that after turning off the pump, they can still get flow at least down to 25 psig, slow but not completely gone like when they have this problem. Pump seems to cycle normally when I check it, but the problem is so sporadic that I haven't been abe to check the gage or pressure switch status when they have no water.

At my house I never lose flow. When they lose flow, they can turn on a faucet at my house until the pump comes on and they get water back after the pressure is higher. Seems to me like a sticky check valve at their house is the problem, but I have looked and don't know where it would be. Any suggestions? I'm concerned about having the range at 48-60, but the pump does cycle at least 2 minutes apart when I have a faucet running, i.e. no cycle issue (I think). Where should I look for the valve? Thanks in advance!

Check to see if they have a filter in the system. It might be plugged and need changing.

They may want to put in a bladder tank with no pressure switch to give better pressure when they are making short term demands on the system.

If they already have a bladder tank it may be that the air pressure is set too high.

It's next to impossible to set a pressure switch that way. Seventeen lbs is the smallest differential I can get with one.

The 20 vertical feet is only 8-1/2 lbs. That means they have that much less pressure than you do at any time not counting friction loss. Their pipes may be smaller than yours, so when your using water and they also try to use water, you are always going to be the winner in that situation.

The extra tank idea won't help much, even with a check valve at the tank, that will only give a gallon or two before the pressure drops to normal again.

I would look for the filter like BobNH suggested and check the pipe sizes.

bob...

pressure

Do you have the pump controls at your house, and they just have a storage tank? If so they will have pressure until the tank is empty, or until you use water to turn the pump back on and repressurize it.

No filter except on their refrigerator. The well is at the level of my house and there are two tanks connected in parallel in the well house. No tank at their house. I know their piping system is older, probably galvanized. Their house is 40 years old at least. Mine is 12. The well was originally for only their house before mine was built. As fas as the pressure switch, I'm just going by what I observe on the gage as it cycles; just below 50 up to just over 60. Should I be concerned about that range? Is my check valve theory plausible? If so, should I dig outside the well house or up at their house where the line comes in? I've looked in the crawl space and see no valve.

The reason I'm thinking check valve is that I know there can be low but positive flow at low pressures, but when they lose water, they lose it completely. Thank you all so much for your replies.

Another theory; intermittent malfunction of the pressure switch, i.e. sometimes it doesn't cut-in and pressure goes below what can make it up the hill, but I can still have water at my house. Then as pressure falls further, the pump does kick in and raises pressure so the neighbors have water also. Guess I need to be home or have them check the gage when they lose water. Thoughts?

Yes, when it does it you need to go to the pump house and see if the pump is on and if so what pressure etc. Have you checked to be sure both of your tanks have the same air pressure?

I have already had this same problem a few years ago. If my neighbor(nephew) turned his water on and mine was on it would soon drop down to a trickle but if I would turn mine off then theirs would build back up cause the pump could "catch up" with the demand. I have had that happen and me in the shower and they would NEVER turn theirs off, they just wanted to call and cuss about it. The well and pump is mine by the way but you would have thought it was all theirs. Anyway, the pump had just gotten old (15 years) and couldn't keep up with the demand. I had a new pump installed about 8 years ago and haven't had one problem since.

Do you think if you let some air out of both tanks (equally) instead of having them the 2lbs. below cut in that then the pump would start sooner but you would have more water in the tanks so it would have less to overcome to get built back up to the cut off so maybe then it could keep up?? Does that make sense? I know what I am trying to say just not sure it sounds right. Maybe someone else here will chime in on this. It might not help your situation but I don't see where it would hurt to try it.

water

You each have a pressure tank, (probably isolated with check valves), but only one pump, so which one has the control for it? It is probably yours and their tank only fills when your system needs water.

I didn't realize there was a tank for each house. They look like thry're connected in parallel, are right next to each other and the outlet from the well pump splits off to T into the tanks. There is only a single visible water line with a single isolation valve downstream of pump/tanks. Isolation for each house is in respective crawl spaces. Am I missing something?

I don''t know where the line splits off to each house because its underground. Closing the one valve in the pump house turns off water to both houses.

If the pressure switch is connected to one of the pipes after a check valve that prevents backflow from one tank to the other, then it is acting only on one tank.

The solution is to add a second pressure switch for the other tank and wire them so that the pump will start when EITHER switch is actuated by low pressure. The pump will stop when BOTH pressure switches open.

The pressure switch is upstream of the tanks. To be clear, the line out of the pump has first the pressure switch coming off, then a T, one to supply the houses and the other to another T that goes to each tank. I don't see any check valve between the two tanks. Seems like that wouldn't work anyway. Isn't the second tank just additional cushion, like having a really big tank?

I also have 2 tanks and mine are both in the pump house. I was told there would be no problem with this as long as the air charge in them stayed the same or close to the same(a pound or so).

I understand that the tanks both empty at the same time/rate when the air charge is the same. If there is a check valve maybe it is at the neighbors house. What size are your tanks?

Have they always had this problem? I'll bet there is a restriction between the tank and the pressure switch at your house. I would get the system up to pressure,have them run water,and when they loose pressure get a reading on the gauge. If the gauge stays at a decent pressure,you have a restriction in the plumbing. If its steel pipe,it could be anywhere in the line. The restriction in the line will act just like a clogged filter.

Sammy

Ok, I will try that. Note that I had said earlier that they still had some water flowing at 25 psig, so I'm guessing this is an intermittent problem, like maybe a check valve.

So to re-ask my previous questions, should I be looking for a check valve that could be sticking closed on the leg to their house. If so, where would it be most likely to be found, at the pump house or at their house? Also, should I be worried about the range of the pressure switch working between 48-50 psig, i.e. should I try to get it back to 40-60?

To answer the questions from prd823, both tanks are at the same pressure, matching the reading on the gage near the pressure switch (as you would expect). I don't see a volume on the tanks, but thry're both about 4' tall and 2.5 ' in diameter.

How do you know they have water flow at 25 psi when you haven't monitored the gauge on your tanks below, or is there a gage in the neighbors house?

Sammy

When I asked if the tanks were at the same pressure I meant the air charge pressure--is this also what you were talking about because you said the gauge reads the same. Well to check the air the gauge on the pump should read 0 and then the air will be ever how much it says on your tire gauge that you are checking it with. If your pump is starting at 48 then you should have 46 psi of air in the tank when the tank is completely empty. If you are worried about the 48-60 run then why dont you set the pressure up to 68 to have a 20lb differential. Do this by turning the small spring/nut clockwise.

About the check valve, I don't know that much about that stuff but I can say that I had one on the water line going to a shop I have and it got to where sometimes it would close and you couldn't get water at the shop so I just had that removed. Mine was right out from the pump house where the line to the shop connected so maybe this is where yours/theirs is.

For Sammy, I did some troubleshooting, but had to stop because their daughter had to take a shower... only got down to about 25 psig at my level, but they still had flow (see first post). No gage at their house. Unfortunately, I travel so its hard to coordinate troubleshooting and it only will be luck for me to be home when they have a problem. They are not very technical, so I'm trying to avoid a large repair bill that won't even help. I already had to pay half a service call to readjust the cut-in, something I could have done in 5 minutes.

For prd, I have not gone down to zero pressure and then checked the tanks. I only checked with a tire gage with system pressurized and verified all the pressures matched. I will try that this week. What are you thinking that would tell me? Thanks for the tip about where a check valve might be, I'll dig at the outlet from the pump house.

Thanks for all your help.

I only checked with a tire gage with system pressurized and verified all the pressures matched.

Click to expand...

That's what is being explained to you, the pressures will match until you turn off the pump and let the pressure down to zero.

You also need a new gauge. It's impossible to get a pressure switch to operate with a differential of two pounds.

bob...