Air in system

[Hankw]

Over the last couple of month, on occasion, we get air in the lines. Usually the air is accompanied by some dirt in the water for a second or two. System burps several times from each faucet and then all is well. Today, with all faucets off, the pump kept cycling. I shut off the pump and the water pressure dropped to zero. You could hear the water drain from the lines. Starting up the pump again, pressure went back up. Lots of air in the lines, and pump cycled several minutes before everything settled down. The House is only 6 years old (this month). Not sure how deep the well is or know much else about the system. Reading other posts, my first guess would be the check valve at the pump. Is this something that I can do myself or is this something that I would need to call a well man in for?
Thanks for any help you can lend.

[Hankw]

Just noticed that the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater was leaking. Replaced it. Is it possible that the water heater was sucking in air thru the PR valve? We will see what happens over the next day or so. Water pump isn't cycling anymore like it did earlier. Still don't understand why the water pressure would drop off to zero when I shut the pump off.

[LLigetfa]

You don't give nearly enough info for a proper diagnosis so I will have to base it on conjecture.

First off, the TPR valve on the HWT is not the cause.

My guess is that you have a submersible pump and a topside checkvalve. The downpipe in the well has a hole in it and as a result the checkvalve in the pump isn't holding. The result is that air is getting sucked into the downpipe. The pump now starts without enough head and the inrush is slamming the topside checkvalve which over time has succumbed to the waterhammer.

With the bad topside checkvalve and the hole in the pipe, the system can no longer hold and the water runs back to the well when the pump shuts off.

[craigpump]

I think I read that it is against state code to have a check valve on the tank in Michigan due to potential contamination issues.

You'll probably find that either the check valve on the pump is bad or there is a split in the drop pipe.