Water pressure problems

[RichZ]

My house has it's own well, about 200 feet deep. I put in a new well pump about 2 years ago. When I'm running the water in the house or from my outside hydrants, the water pressure will suddenly go down to nothing for a few seconds, and then slowly come back to normal. It will do this every few minutes.

My guess is there's something wrong with my pressure tank. The bladder leaking, maybe?

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!!!

 

[dex3361]

Sounds like the air tank is water logged or the bladder tank is ruptured. Take some pics of what you have and you will get some good advice here. The symptoms sound like your tank is the problem.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Rich have you checked the PSI of the bladder? Others may know but it seems it is to be a few PSI below your low pressure cut in setting?

 

[Mousefield]

What is the pressure setting on your pressure tank? Most cut in at around 30 to 40psi and shut off 50-60psi. There is usually around a 20 psi spread. Usually on top of the tank is an air valve like you have on a car tire. Use an air (tire) pressure gauge to see what the air pressure is in the tank.

 

[jenkinsph]

Those are all good points,

You need to know your high and low pressure points as mentioned there should be a 20 psi difference usually 30 psi low to 50 psi high or 40 psi low to 60 psi high.

Turn on an outside faucet to get the system to bleed down, watch the guage closely to see when the pump turns on. You will usually hear a relay click on the pressure switch. Note this pressure or jot it down. Then allow the pump to run until you hear it stop and note the pressure this should be your high point. These should be as mentioned about 20 psi differnce. Now shut off the pumps power or breaker and continue to let the water run until the water stops. With a good air guage ( I use an air chuck with a good 60 psi guage screwed together) measure the air pressure on the top of the air tank assuming yoou have a bladder style tank. The air charge should be set two psi below your low pressure reading. So if you had a 40 low and 60 high setup your air pressure on the empth bladder should be 38 psi. Assuming the faucet is still open and the pump is still off it should hold this reading without leaking off. I suspect you will find it off by a few psi and may need to add or delete air to bring it to the proper setting.

If the pressure falls to zero you have a bad bladder.


Try it again and see how this works for you, you may experience a slight dip for a half second but thats about all. I have seen the 1/4" pipe that feeds the pressure switch get blocked with sediment and sometimes it is the culprit because it slows the reaction time of the pressure switch but this is not as common as the bladder being set wrong.

 

[RichZ]

Thanks for the info, guys!!! I'll try Steve's method this weekend.

 

[skipmarcy]

Thanks for the info, guys!!! I'll try Steve's method this weekend.

Steve is correct except for one minor thing - you can't always go by watching the gauge pressures initially, you need to look at the cover of your pressure switch and see what the cut-in and cut-out pressures are supposed to be for your switch, then do as he says and drain all water pressure and set the air pressure in the bladder 2 psi lower than the cut-in pressure to get you in the ballpark. Then you can either fine-tune the air pressure or the switch itself after. I just had to adjust mine yesterday after being in service for 4 years and was getting screwy readings initially - my switch is basic at 30 - 50 and I know it was set at this (+/- 1 psi) 4 years ago when put in service new and my air pressure was set exactly at 28 psi. Has worked fine up until about a week ago when I noticed some "slamming". When I first looked at the cycling yesterday it was cutting in at about 42 psi (+/-) with a momentary huge drop and cutting out at about 54 psi (+/-). Luckily I drained water pressure and checked the air before trying to adjust the switch as I initially thought I would have to do - the air pressure was right about 41 or 42 psi !!! I don't know how the pressure increased over the 4 years but it surely did. I realize temp will make a small difference at times but 14 psi change was a little much, especially since the original set was in summer and it is now spring and much cooler. Anyway, after adjusting the air pressure back to 28 psi the switch was operating exactly as it was supposed to again without any adjustment at all. If I had started trying to adjust the switch first like I was considering, it would have been a real pain. I realize that most problems with an air bladder are going to be lack of air pressure so my situation may be pretty unique but just wanted to show that weird things can happen. Anyone got any idea how the pressure increased on me like that ?

 

[jayste]

Edit: I now see Steve touched on this already

After you do all that and it all checks out then it's probably in your nipple (1/4" pipe about 4-6" long) between the brass tee and the pressure switch. I've had the exact same thing happen to me before and found that the problem was in the nipple being partially plugged and not allowing the pressure switch to operate properly. You'll have to cut off the power, unhook the wires from the pressure switch, unscrew the pressure switch from the nipple and then unscrew the nipple from the brass tee. Clean out the nipple and and put it all back as it was.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

They had used steel in our set up and it had filled solid with rust so water could not get to the gauge/pressure switch.

Next time I check that before making a service call.

 

[TheGoose]

My guess would be that your bladder tank is either not charged right or completely failed.

Turn the breakers off to the pump, and drain all the water out of the system. Use a tire gauge and check the air pressure of the bladder tank. Your air pressure should read 2psi below the cut in pressure of the pump, normally 28 psi for a 30/50 pressure switch. You can adjust your pressure switch to any cut in/cut out you need if necessary. If you are not getting enough pressure add air until you reach the desired pressure (with the tank empty of course). Next turn the pump on and let the system fill. If you're still getting problems I would then check the nipple going to the pressure switch to check for plugging.


Good luck.