Sudden water well pump cycling

[brantley]

I was woken up about 4 this morning by my water well cycling off and on at about 20 second intervals. It has been about 23 degress, so I figured I had a pipe burst or maybe the ground
shifted and I broke a water line.
So I shut the well off at the breaker, spent about 20 minutes fixing a cranky flashlight and investigated. I found no signs of water leakage. So I turned the well back on and now
everything appears to be okay. No pump cycling and the pressure is steady.
Since it is still dark I am going wait for daylight and run the water for several minutes to thaw out the break in case it refroze.
Does anyone have any suggestions on what else I could look at? I am not sure at this point if I will need to call a plumber or the company that installed the well. BTW the well is about 4 1/2 years old.

Thanks in adavance for any suggesionts.

 

[brantley]

Well as an update. Just I after I finished typeing in the previous message, I check my water again and lost all pressure. Check the circuit break and that looked okay. So I guess I will call the well company. I will keep everyone updated on how this resolves.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

you didn't say if your well is drilled or shallow. Around here shallow wells are common. When that happened to us last year I had to get in the well and replace the foot valve. If it is artesian (drilled) then I can't give you any suggestions

 

[brantley]

The well about 180ft deep.

 

[MikePA]

Hmmm, (putting on Sherlock Holmes' deerstalker cap)...

1. To lose all pressure indicates the pressure tank is emptying all water.
2. To empty the pressure tank, it's got to be that the water is coming out on the output (house) side or input side.
3. If there are no leaks on the house side, and there are no faucets open, then the leak has to be on the input side.

My bet would be a failed check valve on the input side which is allowing the water to drain back into the well. Although, this would imply that the check valve at the pump has also failed, which would allow the 180' of pipe to drain as well. On our installation, we have a check valve right before the pipe enters the pressure tank as well as one at the pump, down in the well.

 

[WVBill]

Brantley:

Where was the noise that woke you up coming from?

When our well system is working right the only sound it makes is the faint click of the pressure switch as it cycles on and off. Is there a pressure gauge on your pressure tank? Does it show that the pressure is going from cut-on to cut-off pressure in 20 second cycles?

If the pressure isn't swinging but the switch is cycling then maybe it's just a bad switch. If the pressure is cycling up and down then there must be a leak somewhere on the house side of the pressure tank (i.e. not between the pump and the house) ---a BIG leak - enough to flow out 7 gallons or so (whatever your drawdown capacity is) of water in 20 seconds!.

I say this because in my case there is a check valve that would prevent water from the pressure tank flowing back out toward the pump.

Now... unless of course that check valve failed open AND the check valve down at the pump failed open then you might have your pressure dropping down to cut-in pressure in just 20 seconds.

Best of luck with the well company... Probably your only recourse unless it's just the pressure switch...

 

[WVBill]

Mike.... great minds.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[brantley]

Just another quick update. I have a little more daylight. So I turned the breaker back on. Got water pressure back. So I went investigating. Still nothing. I went to where the well is drilled and listened, but heard no sounds like water or a pump running. When I went back inside, there was no water running. So shut off at the breaker again and wait for the drilling company to open. Hopefully they will send someone out in spite of the temperature.

Hopefully this will not be too expensive.

 

[brantley]

My water heater is near the bedroom. So when the pump kicks on I can hear it humming. It also does not take much to wake me up. I figured to be cycling the way it was it would be a huge leak also. One thing I do hear is a slight tapping sound in the pipes even when the pump is off. This has happened ever since the well was installed. I have called the drilling company on it before, but they had no suggestions as to the cause.

Thanks to all for the suggestions so far.

 

[Von]

Brantley,
I had the same thing happen to me once. Had to pull the well pump and replace the foot valve. The spring broke on it and was causing it to leak back down. If you have a shut-off before the tank try closing it and see if it still cycles. If it stops its the foot valve at the pump. I put a foot valve right before the tank to stop the pump from cycling, untill warmer weather and I could pull the pump. Which by the way is a two man job! At least the water had leaked out of the pipe down to the pump! So it was not as heavy as it could have been. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif Good luck with it.