PDA

View Full Version : Inconsistent water pressure from well


sylviasuef
Nov 25, 2013, 07:55 PM
I have sporadically inconsistent water pressure for several weeks. Today it cut off completely for 15 minutes, then came back on fine for a few hours. It was fine this afternoon, then tonight it varied considerably while washing dishes.
A 'water specialist' came out and looked at it today and said he "found shorts on all legs - 5.1 winding resistance" of the well pump - what does that mean? He said the pump pulls 8.4 amps.
He said it's an old pump and has a 25/45 cycle on switch, and that the 40 gallon pressure tank in the crawlspace was at 12psi. He felt there may be "shorts in the impeller wires."
He said it would cost $900 to replace that old tank, and up to $2500 to replace the pump and wires.
I am glad I found this site, but wish I had found it sooner. Does this make sense to anyone? I'm confused.

hkstroud
Nov 25, 2013, 09:37 PM
water specialist
What is a water specialist?

"found shorts on all legs - 5.1 winding resistance" of the well pump - what does that mean?
I don't know but question its validity.

"shorts in the impeller wires."
The impeller is the part of the pump that moves the water, sort of like a fan blade. It doesn't have wires.

has a 25/45 cycle on switch
That means that the system has a pressure switch on it that turns the pump on when the pressure drops to 25 lbs and off when it reaches 45 lbs.

pressure tank in the crawlspace was at 12psi.
The pressure of a bladder tank should be 2 lbs less then the cut on pressure of the pressure switch. That means your tank pressure should be 23 lbs.

Suggest you forget the water specialist and call a well man.

jlisenbe
Nov 25, 2013, 09:49 PM
Is this pump above ground or in the well?

You can adjust the tank yourself. Not hard to do except that it is in the crawlspace. Want to try?

Not sure why he would want to replace the tank. Did he give a reason?