No water after several hours

Shallow well with new jet pump 3/4 hp and bladder tank. It worked great all summer until this week. If it sits for a couple of hours without use and then you try to use it the water quits after a few minutes. the pump is running but there is no pressure. If you turn the pump off for 30 seconds or so and then turn it on it pumps normally again until you let it sit unused for a few hours.

Do you have a check valve in the suction line if front of the pump?

What are you drawing the water from?

bob...

Maybe it is partially losing prime, that would be caused by a leaky foot valve. Running the pump without getting water is going to ruin the pump. So you need someone capable of pulling the drop pipe out of the well after troubleshooting the system to see what is happening and what has to be done to fix the problem. You probably need to call a pump guy, driller or plumber that can get into the well.

Gary
Quality Water Associates

check valve

Yes there is a check valve in the suction. When checking the pump for prime, it is still full of water

Yeah it would be. But when the water leaks out of the line on the other side of that valve, and the pump kicks on and gets a big shot of air, it takes it a while to regain it's prime.

It's my contention you have a leak in the suction line somewhere or maybe more than one.

Remove the check valve and see what happens. It shouldn't be there anyway.

bob...

Ditto.

No jet pump should ever have a check valve on it; only a foot valve at the inlet in the well.

Gary
Quality Water Associates