I have just replaced my water pump, my foot valve, and my pressure tank. My water works great, for about a half hour or so. After using the water about half an hour, the pressure drops to almost zero, and the pump will not turn off. Wile the pump is running, I get a tiny stream of water, the pipes and water get hot, and the only way to regain my pressure and shut the pump off is to shake the pipe goiung into the well. Any ideas?

Welcome to AMHD.

It sounds like you are running out of water.

How long before you have pressure back?

How deep is your well?

It would be a good idea to put a shut off protection system on pump to keep pump from burning out because of lack of water. One type is called Pumptec.

Chuck

I checked the depth when I replaced the foot valve, the well is 40 feet deep, and the footvalve is 7 feet down into the water. I have to shake the pipe to get pressure back, and if I use small amounts of water at a time, I don't lose it. I don't know if it is the pump, or an air leak, or what it could be.I just need to get it fixed so I can do laundry and not have to sit out by the pump the entire time. Thanks.

It sure sounds like the water table's dropping, Would it be possible to check the depth before making any draws and again after the pressure drops? Let me know what you find. Good luck. Tom

Quote:

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Originally Posted by speedball1

It sure sounds like the water table's dropping, Would it be possible to check the depth before making any draws and again after the pressure drops? Let me know what you find. Good luck. Tom

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I will try that in the morning. What do I need to be looking for when I check the water level before and after the pump starts up? If the water is still at a safe level, are there any other options that may be causing this problem. It almost acts like it is losing prime, but it only does it after the water us turned on. It will stay pumped up at pressure overnight with the power turned off. I don't know if my explanation makes any sense, but I really don't know any other way to describe it. Thanks for taking the time to offer me advice, and helping troubleshoot my problem.

7 ft is very short in a 50' well. Why not drop it to 20'?

Is this a shallow well pump (one pipe going into the well) or deep well (two pipes)? If it's a shallow well pump, then pulling the water level down a relatively small amount could be making a big difference. It won't pull from much more than 25'. If that's the case, then dropping the footvalve lower in the well will be a waste of time if you go past that depth.

The water level in the well is 12feet. My footvalve is 5 feet above the bottom, so It is about 7 feet down. Yes it is a shallow well pump, the only pump that has ever been in the well was another shallow well pump. It just doesn't make sense for it to drop prime, or lose water, or whatever it is doing when I run water. I have no idea why I cannot get it to pump like it should and stay that way.

If you are pumping the well dry, then losing water and prime would certainly happen. I think Speedball is hitting the nail on the head with his advice. Get a twelve foot long piece of small diameter pipe, lower it into the well, pull it out, and see how much of the bottom is wet. Does the well have enough room to do that?

Im a little confused. You said the well was "40 ft.deep ", but the water is "12 ft deep." The toot valve is 7 ft into.the water. What happened to the other 28 ft?

Good question.

I do not know. The plate on the well says it is 40 Ft deep. I dropped a rope in the well with a brick tied to it. After it hit the bottom, I measures 12 ft of water on the rope. I have tried to see if the water level inside the well was dropping, but I cannot really tell. All I can see is that It is not dropping past the foot valve. Is there any way it could be the pump or pressure tank?

Hi Wpage.
Follow the advice given and get back to us with the results. Good luck, Tom