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View Full Version : Why does my pump cycle every 6 minutes?


gtcharley
Mar 24, 2011, 10:04 AM

ballengerb1
Mar 24, 2011, 10:40 AM
What pump; sump pump, well pump or condensate?

smoothy
Mar 24, 2011, 10:41 AM
Your Fuel pump? Your Air pump?

Your Sump Pump?

It helps if you take an extra 10 seconds and tell us what pump you are talking about.

gtcharley
Mar 24, 2011, 12:31 PM
Sorry. Seems to be the water pump leak or maybe the line from the pump to the house. Pump and drop pipe replaced in 05. But, without using any water the water pump cycles every 6 minutes. Cannot find any leaks inside of house, sinks, toilets,etc. how can I narrow down the possible area of the leak?

jlisenbe
Mar 24, 2011, 02:31 PM
Sounds like either a leaking check valve or wellpipe. Is your pump above ground or in the well?

Do you have a shutoff valve going from the tank to the house? If so, have you tried turning off that valve and seeing if it solves the problem? If you do, and shutting it off solves the problem, then you know the problem is "above" the tank. But probably, with a leak that significant, you would have noticed it by now.

gtcharley
Mar 24, 2011, 04:35 PM
Pump is in well... approx 27 ft

Did shut off house from water line and same results... gauge at 75psi... no water running... gauge slowly drops to 40psi and recycles. Time of drop approx 4 minutes.
Means leak is outside house?

lilpoppa
Mar 24, 2011, 05:13 PM
Leak is outside the house, either check valve on the pump or the wellpipe. Unfortunatuly for you it sounds like you are going to have to have your pump pulled from the well and checked out. But at least your well is shallow.

jlisenbe
Mar 25, 2011, 05:36 AM
It means the leak in NOT in the house, but it could either be on the "house side" of the pressure tank or the well side. The probability is a leaking checkvalve. With only 27 feet of wellpipe, you might want to try installing a check valve between the pressure tank and the well head. In fact, the check valve might be there anyway and just needs replacing. This website has a nice view of a checkvalve so you can see what it looks like and what it does.

Water system check valve location & purpose - private pump and well system do-it-yourself repairs (http://www.inspectapedia.com/water/CheckValves.htm)