Pump Runs Continuously

[Kris123]

Hello...

The pressure switch never shuts off which of course allows the pump to continuously run. The pressure never gets high enough to trigger the 30/50 switch to shut off. Everything is less than a year old from the well line at the house to the main plumbing to the house (water filter, pressure switch, pressure release valve, pressure tank, anti-reverse water flow valve).

Air pressure measures fine in the pressure tank and the pump is pumping. The pressure gets a little over 30 but no higher so the pump never shuts off since it doesn't get to 50. Could it be that the pump is just old? Should it be pumping with enough pressure to trigger the pressure switch to shut off? The pump is at least 15 years old if not older. Anyway to test the pump condition?

Could a leak in the line from the well to the house be the issue? I haven't noticed any significant dirt/debris in the water. No noticeable water in the yard to the house which we had when we had a leak a few years back. Is there a way to test that?

Appreciate any help you can provide.

Kris

[Gary Slusser]

The pressure switch never shuts off which of course allows the pump to continuously run. The pressure never gets high enough to trigger the 30/50 switch to shut off. Everything is less than a year old from the well line at the house to the main plumbing to the house (water filter, pressure switch, pressure release valve, pressure tank, anti-reverse water flow valve).

If you have a filter between the pump and switch, remove the cartridge and see if the pump works right. If it does, remove the housing. You should never put anything between a pump and its controlling pressure switch that can block up, that can cause serious pump and plumbing problems; like a leak.

If you don't have a blocked filter you have a leak or the pump's inlet is blocked or the pump is worn out. You do have a submersible pump and not a jet pump right?

[Kris123]

The pump is in the well about 250ft down. There is indeed a filter between the well and the pressure switch. I'm able to bypass the filter to take it out of play plus it had been working for a year with this setup. I'm guessing its the pump since the line from the well to the house was replaced a couple years back. I also don't see any signs of a leek as we noticed when we had to have the line replaced. I'm considering replacing it by myself. Looks like it has a pitless adapter with a female pipe thread on top. I read you can attach a pipe to it and pull the pump. Anything I should worry about in doing so? I'm pretty handy but never done this. Is this something I can tackle?

Thanks for the help.

[cacher_chick]

You might be able to do it. Consider though that you will have to pull up 250 feet of pipe that is full of water.
If you can't support the load or the drop pipe breaks off in the casing, then what do you do?

[speedbump]

Since you have an inline filter between your pump and pressure switch, can we assume you changed all this out yourself?

How old is the pump? How long has it ran without shutting off and you not using water?

bob...

[Gary Slusser]

The pump is in the well about 250ft down. There is indeed a filter between the well and the pressure switch. I'm able to bypass the filter to take it out of play plus it had been working for a year with this setup. I'm guessing its the pump since the line from the well to the house was replaced a couple years back. I also don't see any signs of a leek as we noticed when we had to have the line replaced. I'm considering replacing it by myself. Looks like it has a pitless adapter with a female pipe thread on top. I read you can attach a pipe to it and pull the pump. Anything I should worry about in doing so? I'm pretty handy but never done this. Is this something I can tackle?

Thanks for the help.

You need to remove the filter and its by-pass. You don't need to filter the water before the pressure tank. It is a bad thing, and as we see, you have already had the underground portion of the line replaced and are thinking of now doing it again while the pump is running constantly. All of that should be telling you something is causing this system problems. And every well system I've ever heard of with a filter between the pump and switch has problems albeit those systems are few'n far between because it is a really bad idea and can cause leaks and ruin pumps or blow a pump off its drop pipe etc. etc..

Remove the cartridge or by pass the filter and tell us what happens then. And shut off the water to the house or shut off the pump and see if the pressure falls. If the pressure falls or the pump doesn't build pressure to shut off, you have a leak between the pump and the shut off valve or the pump is shot or its inlet is blocked.