Constant Cycling

[TheConnollyKid]

Greetings,

Lately my pump seems to be cycling constantly. I've gone down to the tank and watch the pressure gauge. It's set at 40/60, and when the pump turns off after hitting 60, it only takes about 15 seconds to go down to 40 and kick in again. I closed the valves to the house, and the problem persists. I bought this house about 3 years ago and I have no idea what type of pump i have. the tank is a blue well-x-trol. i drained the tank, and then started over again, but the leak persists. So before I call a plumber, I just wanted to see if there is anything else i could try or look at, and if someone needs to come in and fix the problem, what approximate costs might be involved?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Pumpman]

If you have a jet type pump, you probably have a bad footvalve (down in the well), or a leak in the suction line. If you have a submersible pump, you have a leak in the drop pipe, or a bad checkvalve.
Ron

[speedbump]

You would be further ahead to call a well driller or pump installer than a plumber. They would be better equipped to handle the problem. If a plumber does that kind of work, he would probably advertise in the same area of the yellow pages as the well guys.

bob...

[TheConnollyKid]

Well happily i found out what the problem was and fixed it. it was indeed the checkvalve, which i was able to find a nice $27 replacement for at the local hardware store. I have to say the site was certainly helpful. I had a friend come over who was able to help me diagnose it, but we went through a lot of the things that were mentioned here. The biggest symptom that might help others is that when the tank would hit 60, and began its rather quick decrease in pressure, you could hear and feel the water running back through the pipe into the well, which my friend said made the check valve the main suspect. we removed it and found that there was certainly some corrosion. replacement put in, and all worked like a charm.