pump not getting up as high in pressure anymore

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Arachia

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1 hp shallow well jet pump for home shallow well 70-140'. pump was giving 60-70psi easy at first but nearby orange groves keep drain the local wells. Have to shut off pump when they water for frost or during dry season then reprime a day later to stop over heating. we have one bladder tank but no resivor tank. hot water tank is in house also shut off when well shut off. now pump can only barely reach 50, so we lowered the shut off by turning the big spring. the bladder tank doesn't seem to have much water in it but it does seem to have air, but don't know how much is suppose to be in that tank of air or water. has the running dry for a hour or 3 before we noticed the well went dry damaged the impeller or is the problem with the pump they are only about a year old or could it be a problem with the well.


what has been done so far:
adjusted shut off, reprimed pump, redid any screw on pipe seal with plumbers tape that seemed to have an air leak pipe seal have to be redone if the well goes dry and the pump gets hot until no water drips and no air leak can be heard

the pump is a goulds pump itt jplus jet pump
model c48a95a06-j10 b0865194
rpm 3450
amps13.016.5
the guys that installed it decided that it the well didn't need the jet adapter and did the nonjet install.
 

JPat

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Agreed the heat has warped the impeller/jet inside the pump head. The air pressure in the tank should ideally be 2psi less than what the pump turns on at, however you can lower this air pressure to 12psi less than what the pump turns on at. It is not recommended but it will give you more storage of water...Bottom line is you will need to have that pump rebuilt or replaced. Can you get a submersible pump in that 70' - 140' well?
 

Masterpumpman

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It could be a pump problem but It could also be some debris broke loose and is partially plugging the nozzle in the jet assembly. Or many times when a pump runs hot for a time then cools down the fittings on the pump suction shrink causing a suction leak. If there's a suction leak the pump won't build pressure.
After getting it working again you might consider installing a low pressure cut off square D pressure switch or better yet a EPS15/99 http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/pdf/eps1599_brochure.pdf. Then when the pressure gets to 10 lbs the switch will turn the pump off and you manually have to reset it. It will save your pump from overheating but it won't keep you from running out of water. . . that's a well supply problem.
 

Gary Slusser

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I agree with a submersible pump because a single line/shallow well jet pump can only lift water from about 25' at sea level. Your 70-140' deep well should have had a two line/deep well jet pump installed, or a submersible pump.

Loss of prime means the water level in the well is falling below the foot valve on the end of the drop pipe or your foot valve or the drop pipe is leaking water back into the well.

Converting a single line jet's plumbing to submersible is difficult if you have to protect water lines from freezing.

I suspect your water table has fallen and there's no way out of the problem other than a submersible down around 125' in the well.
 

LLigetfa

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Loss of prime means the water level in the well is falling below the foot valve on the end of the drop pipe or your foot valve or the drop pipe is leaking water back into the well.
Since the OP said he shuts off the pump when they are watering the orchard to prevent the pump from going dry and it is still losing prime, he then must have a leaking footvalve and/or fittings.

If there were no leaks, the water could fall below the intake and a pump that is shut off would not lose prime.
 

LLigetfa

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I wasn't disagreeing with you. Either the OP is not shutting the system down properly by closing the whole house valve or there are multiple leaks, or I may have misunderstood and he shuts it off after he already lost prime.

You can hold your thumb over the top of a straw while you lift it out of the water and the water will stay in the straw. You can hold your finger on the bottom of the straw while you lift it out of the water and the water will stay in the straw. You need to leave both ends of the straw open to lose the water.
 

Gary Slusser

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Usually the pressure in the pressure tank forces water out of the leaking plumbing or the foot valve until the pressure goes to 0 psi and then the weight of the water down to the static water level pushes water out the leak until it can't. That causes a loss of prime in a jet pump. So there doesn't have to be but one leaking spot.
 
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