Water only some times

**stepheme** · 03-05-2012, 07:38 PM

I have a two wire well1.5 horse submergable pump that was installed about two years ago with one line of pex pipe with a 20-40 psi relay switch and a bladder. The bladder and relay switch are under my mobile home about 100 ft from the well. I don't rember exactly how much resevoir is but I'm thinking about 200ft and the total well is about 300ft. I was running out of water rather quickly so I assumed I had a leak, however after checking for leaks and not finding any I replaced the relay switch and put in a 30-50 psi relay switch. Some days I wont have any issues and will have running water all day, however on some days my water will run for a couple of minutes stop running for a couple of minutes and then start running again. On the days I have no issues I have filled the tub twice and ran a load of laundry back to back, no issues. I have also replaced the switch, yesterday I also poured a gallon of bleach down the well and did not have any issues today. My water runs with great pressure about 50 psi and then the pressure will shut off to zero when I lose water. I'm at a loss and have no idea what else to check. Also the pex pipe was installed with at least one shock absorber (not sure thats exactly what they are called) if not two. This winter the pipes have not frozen or any other plumming issues. I do have a toilet that has a leak in the tank, however unless I forget I also turn it off at the cut off switch.

**valveman** · 03-06-2012, 06:53 AM

I don't think the well is running out of water. I think the overload in the motor is tripping. It has a built in overload that resets itself after a couple of minutes. I also suspect that cycling on and off is causing the overload to trip. A 1.5 HP pumping from 200' can produce 16-18 GPM. Even with an 80 gallon tank that holds 25 gallons of water, that pump can still cycle on and off a lot. If you have a smaller pressure tank, it cycles even more.

You need a clip around amp meter or look at your electric meter when the water stops flowing. If there is no amperage going to the motor then the overload has tripped. If there is still amperage going to the motor, then the well is pumping dry.