tartrazine
New Member
My well just stopped working and calling someone out is not in the budget right now.
I believe it is a 160' well with a submersible pump. See picture below. I live in Minnesota.
I had noticed last week that although it was working normally, it seemed to sound like it was cycling faster than usual. Then a few days later it stopped entirely. I went down to the basement to investigate, and where the control box and pressure tank were, there was a noise coming from the control box on left (relay switch?) "ting....tock......................ting....tock......................." at about 10 second intervals. Pressure gauge read zero. I turned the power off at the breaker as I didn't have time to deal with it. The house is on city water, the well is just for lawn and garden. It's an older well so I assumed the pump just went out and would need replacement.
The next day I turned it back on to see if it was still not working, and it just continued making the noise, with no water. I left it on for a couple hours to see what would happen, outside faucet open, and some time later it suddenly started working again, and the sprinkler outside started going. It was going for an hour or so before I noticed. I went downstairs to look a it, and everything seemed normal, pressure gauge was at about 40. There is a ball valve there so turned it off to see what would happen, but as soon as I touched the valve actually everything went dead again, pressure gauge back to zero. I tapped on the pressure switch lightly, nothing. I've left it on, faucet to sprinkler open, for an hour so a couple more times, with nothing.
I'm now hoping it's something easier than the pump to place.
Does this sound like a problem with the pressure switch, or relay switch? I know how to use a voltmeter, turn off the power, and not electrocute myself.
Thanks for any help that can be offered.
I believe it is a 160' well with a submersible pump. See picture below. I live in Minnesota.
I had noticed last week that although it was working normally, it seemed to sound like it was cycling faster than usual. Then a few days later it stopped entirely. I went down to the basement to investigate, and where the control box and pressure tank were, there was a noise coming from the control box on left (relay switch?) "ting....tock......................ting....tock......................." at about 10 second intervals. Pressure gauge read zero. I turned the power off at the breaker as I didn't have time to deal with it. The house is on city water, the well is just for lawn and garden. It's an older well so I assumed the pump just went out and would need replacement.
The next day I turned it back on to see if it was still not working, and it just continued making the noise, with no water. I left it on for a couple hours to see what would happen, outside faucet open, and some time later it suddenly started working again, and the sprinkler outside started going. It was going for an hour or so before I noticed. I went downstairs to look a it, and everything seemed normal, pressure gauge was at about 40. There is a ball valve there so turned it off to see what would happen, but as soon as I touched the valve actually everything went dead again, pressure gauge back to zero. I tapped on the pressure switch lightly, nothing. I've left it on, faucet to sprinkler open, for an hour so a couple more times, with nothing.
I'm now hoping it's something easier than the pump to place.
Does this sound like a problem with the pressure switch, or relay switch? I know how to use a voltmeter, turn off the power, and not electrocute myself.
Thanks for any help that can be offered.