Dry Well? Total newbie at this..

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Redlobster

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I don't know much about wells , pumps etc but anyway here is m problem.Last week when I was running the sink the water stopped flowing.Anyway about 4-5 hours later it came back.About 4 hours later same thing happened ..nothing.Anyway during the hurricane it rained a little bit and the water came back for about a soild week.Yesterday the water stopped flowing only this time the water hasn't came back on and it's been about 24 hours.
The pump is not running , or hasn't been and the gauge reads 0 or little psi.I looked in the well and there seems to be water in there but it is down quite far.It's labour day weekend so can't call in a pro but am I over reading things or is this just a "dry well" problem?
Thanks
 

LLigetfa

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You probably burned up the pump if it's a sub or lost prime if it's a jet. What kind of pump and what kind of well? How far down is the water?

The time to get in a pro would have been when the symptoms first presented, not ignore them until they get worse.
 

Redlobster

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It's a goulds jplus jet pump , It's just a regular well I guess I don't know the difference.The water is pretty far down.
I just thought it was funny that after it rained it worked flawlessy so I assumed that was the problem.
 

LLigetfa

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A J+ is a convertible jet pump. Is your pump setup as a shallow well or deep well? If shallow well, what is the total depth in feet it has to lift from? "Pretty far down" is too abstract a term to be meaningful.

When the well purportedly ran dry, did you turn off the power to the pump to prevent damage? If so, when you turn the power back on, does the pump make noise? Have you tried to reprime it since?
 

Redlobster

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To be honest with you I don't know...How can I tell?
When I unplug the pump and plug it back in it doesn't make a noise at all..When I opened it to prime it there was already water in it?Do I have to drain it? Like I said sorry I have no idea about any of this.
 

Redlobster

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Funny thing the pump just came on and the psi is up past 50.The water system tank feels full now...We have had it pretty dry lately maybe that is the problem.
 

LLigetfa

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A shallow well configuation has just one pipe coming out of the well. A deep well conversion has two pipes. A shallow well pump can only lift around 25 feet. There is a sticky explaining it.

It sounds like you either have a pressure switch that is intermittent, or the pump motor thermal protection is shutting it off.
 

Redlobster

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I only see one pipe coming out of the well so must be a shallow pump.I'll take a look at the sticky.
Expensive fix if either of those are the problem?
 

LLigetfa

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You really need to take some measurements in the well. Tie a heavy weight to the end of a cord and measure how far down to the water and then how much farther down to the bottom. Measure the diameter of the well so that we can advise based on those three measurements. Lastly, it would be good to know how much water you use and how fast the well can recover.

If you repeatedly overheat the pump to the point it shuts off, it probably is not long for this world. Converting it to deep well might extend its life but a submersible might be a consideration. Lastly, you need to either learn some of the basics or put a pro on your speed dial.
 

Redlobster

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Ok so I measured from the water up it was roughly 7.4 foot , then roughly 8 foot of water in the well , the diameter was 11 foot.
The last month or so we have been running the water pretty steady , we both go to the gym so sometimes two showers a day , clothes washed everyday , dishes plus we have a child that is bathed daily etc etc.Last week it recovered in only a matter of 6 hours at the most , this time it was 24 hours.The water has went off again so I unplugged the pump.
 
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LLigetfa

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When the water went off, was the pump still running or stopped? Did it feel hot? What was the water level in the well at the time?

7.4 feet down in the well is not what I would consider "pretty far down". Even if you pumped it down another 8 feet to the bottom, 15 feet down is still not taxing the pump unless the well is down hill from the pump. What is the elevation difference from the top of the well to the intake on the pump?

An 11 foot diameter well, with 8 feet of water in it will give you about 4700 gallons of storage so I really cannot see how you are running out of water unless the footvalve is nowhere near the bottom.
 

Redlobster

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The pump was stopped , no it didn't feel hot .The water level may have been a little higher I didn't check until a few hours after because I had things to do.
Well I was thinking that once I looked and seen the numbers...probably going to cost an arm and a leg to get this fixed.
 
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