Well loses pressure

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kmc1mfra

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Hi,

I really need help because I am at a loss of what or who to call...

I live in Clinton Township, Michigan, and have a well and septic system at our house. I am having a problem with the well. It loses water pressure to a point that every 5-10 minutes, it turns on for a second or two to get the pressure up again. The problem is that when we have a power failure (storm or whatever), I have to prime the pump to get it to run.

My neighbor thinks it is the flapper at the bottom of the well that is not sealing properly, thus losing pressure.

Do you have any suggestions or contacts? I contacted the company that did our drain field (Rattee's Septic), but they couldn't suggest anyone.

Thank you in advance for any responses,

Kelly McCarty
Editor, McCarty Metro
http://www.mccartymetro.com
 

Gary Slusser

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I am having a problem with the well. It loses water pressure to a point that every 5-10 minutes, it turns on for a second or two to get the pressure up again. The problem is that when we have a power failure (storm or whatever), I have to prime the pump to get it to run.

My neighbor thinks it is the flapper at the bottom of the well that is not sealing properly, thus losing pressure.
The pressure is from the pump and the pressure tank.

You have a leak between the tank and the foot valve on the end of the drop pipe going down the well. Usually it is the foot valve but it could be anywhere in the plumbing back and down the well.

If there is only one water line from the well to the pump, one guy can pull the pipe and change the foot valve. If there are two lines, it might take two guys.
 

Speedbump

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It loses water pressure to a point that every 5-10 minutes, it turns on for a second or two to get the pressure up again.

You have a waterlogged tank. You also have a small leak somewhere but it's probably nothing to be terribly concerned with. The two seconds to fill the tank back up is probably less than a cup full of water. You need to replace the tank. It could be a Bladder Tank or a Galvanized tank (which can be drained) but either way, you really need to address this before you take out a motor.

bob...
 
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brianfrett

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I have a similar promblem and hope I can get some advice as to what to do. The pressure in our well system is only reaching to approximately 40psi (We have a 40/60 new switch that was installed last night (replacing old 40/60 switch), as we thought the switch might be bad. I adjusted the pressure tank (Flotech 7120) to 38psi, per Flotec instructions, and it seemed to hold that pressure (which should rule out a bad tank/bladder, correct?).

So now, the pump is continuously running, trying to get to the cut-off of 60psi. It won't go past 40psi, even though it is pumping continuously. I turned the cut-off nut on the pressure switch to try an lower the cut-off pressure to take the burden off the well pump.

Any suggestions as to where the problem is? It just seems that the pump can not push enough pressure into the tank to get it to go higher. Bad pump or maybe a blackage restricting the flow from the well? There is no shortage of water, we're just running at a lower pressure and the pump is always running.

Thanks!!
Brian
 

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You didn't say what kind of Pump. If it's a Jet, that may be all it can do. If it's a Submersible, it should do much better unless it's on it's way out. The Pressure Switch can only do what it's told. If it's waiting for 60 psi to turn off the Pump, it won't do so until the Pump gets there.

bob...
 

Gary Slusser

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Also, you could have a water leak, that will prevent pressure build up. The most common is a leak in the well in the drop pipe.

Shut off the water past your pressure tank and see what happens. If the pump doesn't build pressure, and you had a leak, it is on th well side of the tank. If the pressure rises, the leak is on the house side of the tank.
 

brianfrett

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Thanks Bob and Gary.

We have a submersible pump...

I turned off the main water to the house (past the pressure tank) and the pressure did not increase.

Something I forgot to mention was that we installed a check valve inside the house from the well line (at the same time that we replaced the pressure switch 2 nights ago). We did this because when I turned off the pressure switch, the pressure went down to 0 in a matter of a few minutes. I thought perhaps that the water was running back into the well, which is why we installed the check valve. The check valve prevents that from happening now.

So it seems the well pump may be on its way out (not able to bring in a sufficient build-up pressure of water into the tank/house) or there may be a leak in the drop pipe in the well??

Any furhter thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated.

Brian
 

Gary Slusser

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I turned off the main water to the house (past the pressure tank) and the pressure did not increase.

Something I forgot to mention was that we installed a check valve inside the house from the well line (at the same time that we replaced the pressure switch 2 nights ago). We did this because when I turned off the pressure switch, the pressure went down to 0 in a matter of a few minutes. I thought perhaps that the water was running back into the well, which is why we installed the check valve. The check valve prevents that from happening now.
And there ya go, a band aid on an artery.... you have a serious leak, most likely it is the check valve in/on the submersible pump's outlet or a fitting somewhere or a hole in the drop pipe or a leaking o-ring on a pitless adapter or the line from the well to the house.

If you don't fix the leak, you run risks like dropping the pump down the well, burning up the pump and other nasty type things that all lead to having no water until you do find and fix the leak. IOWs there are no short cuts like that check valve you installed and didn't mention... If you don't have a submersible, you still have a leak.
 
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