My jet pump in my basement was giving out, so I cut it out and replaced it with a submersible pump. I ran the wiring for it through one of the two water lines the jet pump used, installed all the gadgets, torque arrestor, the plastic pieces that keep the pipe and wires away from the well sides, check valves (65ft well, one on top of the pump, one at the top of the well just before the elbow. I think I did everything correctly...

The pump is a 1HP 120v model. About 18.5 gpm at current depth, give or take.

The old pressure switch was attached to the old jet pump and didn't look so pretty, so I also bought a new one and installed it just before the main shutoff for the house. The settings for it currently are about 30/50psi if the gauge at the tank is correct.

When I was installing everything, the tank moved location. (removed from workshop area to fit neatly under the stairs). I noticed when I went to check the pressure of the bladder that there was none, and adding air to it helped nothing... Found out it was just escaping through an open valve, so it seems the bladder failed on me at some point as well.

I tried just messing around with adding and removing air from the failed-bladder tank, but that was futile. Air would often burst from the faucets and eventually it would start short-cycling the pump. No good.

Now I have a new tank also. It was fairly easy to replace with the union I installed 10+ years ago. Filling the tank on first run went fine. Pump ran for about 1.5-2 minutes, then shut off. The problem came when it called for water again, where the pressure switch returned to that now all too familiar short-cycling. The tank is an 85 gal model.

I assumed there was too much air in the bladder (precharged to 38 as I found out), so I let it down to 28 as the instructions I found indicated. Figured this would fix the problem, but unfortunately... not so much. I've let it down in one psi increments, testing between each, and have had no luck. With no pressure on the system and the tank drained, I'm down to 25 psi, and still getting a short-cycling condition.

Frustrated, and not sure where to go from here.

James

If I understand correctly you have the pressure switch on the pump side of the valve inside the house. I get the impression you are using the piping from the old jet pump. I would bet that you are using the larger pipe which is probably 1 1/2". I would also bet that you reduced that down to something like 3/4" at the shut off valve. Probably just before or just after the shut off valve.

Unless you are using a full port ball valve the restriction of the valve and the reduction in pipe size would cause a significant increase in pressure in the pipe at that point. Especially if your pump is really pumping 18 GPM. This high pressure on the line (where the switch is located) could shut the pump off prematurely then turn it back on when the pressure in the line equalized with the pressure in the tank.

I would move the pressure switch close to the tank.

Having the switch quite some distance from the tank can cause problems. Do you have a pressure gauge on your tank? If so, check and see if the pressure is really moving from 30 to 50 at the tank.

Ah...

Hkstroud, I'm using the piping from the old jet pump, but I hooked the water into the 1" line and the wiring through the 1 1/4" line. The piping does reduce to 3/4 right about where it enters the house at the changeover from plastic to copper. It makes sense that a strong pump could spike the pressure of the line where it is located. It never occurred to me that those reductions would possibly be such a detriment. Same with the pump. It only sits at about 65ft, and the pump literature lists 18.5gmp at 88ft, so perhaps a bit more even. We are dirt poor right now due to scheduling conflicts with material vendors, so I was looking for the cheapest pump that would do the job. That pump just happened to be a 1HP model. I couldn't touch the price on any other pump I found: http://www.amazon.com/Tooluxe-Submersible-Stainless-Steel-Deep/dp/B00HHIRNG2

jlisenbe, I do have a pressure gauge on the tank. All appears normal with it. I haven't really observed it for odd behaviors during the cut-in as I'm always scrambling to shut the valve off to get the pump to stop bouncing on and off. I've just noticed the cut-in and cut-out points with it.

Thank you both for your answers. I will try moving the pressure switch right over to the tank. I should be able to place it where the tank gauge is, adding a tee for the gauge itself, and I'll place another gauge or plug where the pressure switch currently is.

I did this today. Another $20 in parts wasn't horrendous, nor was the 2 hours of working on it. It was really the extra labor of pulling the wire from the panel and re-running it that made me skip doing it the first time. Lesson learned however. The issue seems to be resolved. I only allowed it to fill, ran it down to where the switch kicked it on again, and let it fill again. It did so without issue though, so while I'm going to watch it like a hawk for the next few cycles, that's better than I've done to date since getting that new well pump in.

Thank you so much for the helpful answers that led me to the resolution.

James

I'm a little late with this, but always nice to hear back from people and that they got the issues resolved. Best wishes.