Well Pump

Lloyd_E · Feb 15, 2011

Once again I turn to the wisdom and knowledge of you folks.

19 year old well pump and switch. Replaced the tank last spring.
Shallow well pump - Red Jacket. Pump and tank is in basement.

For about the last 2-4 weeks it seemed to take forever to fill tank.
I checked pressure at tank = 26 lbs of air. Pressure is good in the house, sink, shower etc.
I tried adjusting old switch but it only got worse. This morning I replaced the old switch(only had one spring adjustable setting nut) with a new switch that has two adjustable spring setting nuts. It was supposed to be factory set at 30/50 psi. Took forever to get the thing adjusted. The best pressure I can get is 28lbs at pump - also put in new gauge this morning. The pump clicks on around 18lbs and will go to about 28lbs and shut off. Lots of pressure in lines but seems to take a long time to fill tank.

I tried adjusting both springs/nuts - got everything from not shutting off pump with pressure around 30lbs to loosing all pressure at pump, which I than had to manual turn on switch. Can't seem to get pressure above 26/28 lbs.

So, is it the tank again? Or is it time for a new pump? I drained tank of water and adjusted pressure as per instructions on the side of tank too.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

TIA.

Mousefield · Feb 15, 2011

Wow, 19 years is pretty good for a pump. As it is in your basement and you made no mention of it leaking. It could be that the impeller inside is not pushing enough water anymore; this could be cause by the seal inside wearing out. This could explain why you are getting some water pressure. Not sure if you could get parts for it, you could look into the cost of a new pump. It may not be worth the hassle and cost of trying to fix the old one.

20 20 · Feb 15, 2011

without seeing it I'd say your impeller is worn out. I had a couple of pumps do this over time. do you have hard water?

Lloyd_E · Feb 15, 2011

Thanks All...

Little bit of iron in the water... not much though.

Ok... so tomorrow will be new pump install day.

Keep ya posted...

bearcreek paul · Feb 15, 2011

My pump did the same thing 2 hrs ago.The impeller was worn out from the hard water.

studor · Feb 15, 2011

Just a thought -- are you sure nothing is frozen? I bought a new convertible pump two years ago only to find out one of the lines had ice in it -- similar circumstance to your description -- very frustrating until I found it , and then thawing it out using heated water from the stove was not fun

Oh well -- now I have a spare pump on hand

Lloyd_E · Feb 15, 2011

If it was frozen would I not get pressure to 50psi at pump... eventually?

studor · Feb 15, 2011

If it was frozen would I not get pressure to 50psi at pump... eventually?

No because you never get enough water to compress the air in the tank to 50psi-- Quick way to find out is to see if the pump will actually pump five or ten gallons of water from the well without worrying about the pressure at all -- if it will not pump straight from the well then it is either the pump itself or it is frozen, plugged or lost prime. Mine froze between the well head and the house and it had never done it before so I figured it was the pump. When I stuck a snake down the line I figured out pretty quickly what my problem was

-- of course this was after I had bought a new pump, changed it out and reprimed it and could not seem to get any pressure!

Carl_NH · Feb 15, 2011

Lloyd.

If its a single pipe from the pump to the well, on the side the pump near the bottom there is a venturi or jet - usually a 1" or 1.25" looking like a plug (plastic) on the side which creates the vacuum to pull the water up from the well. This can get plugged with rust chips or similar. Take this out and check this first. (fill a bucket of water first for priming). If this jet is clear, then it could be the impelller but if since this happened over that last few weeks it could be the impeller but I would check the jet first.

If its not the jet on the side plugged, you can remove the 4 bolts holding the pump end on and pull the pump section off as there is an o ring seal on the housing, but I would have a new seal, impeller, and diffuser plate to install if you go this route.

If its a two pipe system (usually a 1.25" up and a 1" down) the venturi/jet is in at the bottom of the well. In this case the some of the water goes down the 1" at higher velocity thru the jet creates a vacuum and sucks it up the larger pipe.

Usually single pipe are 30' deep wells and 2 pipe less than 100' wells with the jet set at 80' in the two pipe set up.

its not fun but I am sure you will get to the bottom of this, and if it is a two pipe system I would just replace it with a 1/2 HP submersible and new pipe/wire at this point.

Carl