About two months ago, had a prob with the pump. Not cutting in. Took switch apart cleaned of the diaphragm cleaned up the port where it connects to the pump, put it back together. Worked for 2 weeks and problem returned. Bought new switch and installed. Worked for about a month and now problem has returned. When it hits cut in pressure, it won't start without some fiddling with the switch. Cuts out fine but doesn't always cut in, only sometimes. Any ideas?

Try filing the points (with the power off, of course) with an emory board. Of course, a new switch should not have this problem, but who knows? Just two or three strokes for each set of points with the emory board is plenty. Turn on power and try it again.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

Try filing the points (with the power off, of course) with an emory board. Of course, a new switch should not have this problem, but who knows? Just two or three strokes for each set of points with the emory board is plenty. Turn on power and try it again.

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Thanks for taking the time to answer me. Last night I thought about the problem, took the old switch apart to see exactly how it works and realized that when the pressure fell, I was not hearing that "click" sound of the switch you normally hear as the pump cuts in. From what I read earlier it was suggested that maybe the line from the pump to the switch was blocked and I thought that would explain why the switch would not trip as the pressure was not falling. So this morning I removed the switch from the pump cleaned the screw in port which was not dirty at all and while putting it back together noticed the filter looked mighty dirty. So I changed the filter also and the pumps seems to be working again. Could it possible that the clogged filter was causing a back pressure higher than the cut in pressure so that the switch was not triggering? That is the only explanation I can come up with. Any thoughts?

Your logic is probably correct if the filter is between the switch and the tank.

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Your logic is probably correct if the filter is between the switch and the tank.

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No. The filter is in the line after the tank. You don't it's possible that maybe it required say 23psi to force the water through the clogged filter and because water stopped passing through at this psi, then the tnk never emptied enough for the switch to be activated?

It would be true that the pressure after the filter would be less than the pressure before the filter as long as water is being used. When water is not in use, the pressures would be equal.

When you say, "and now problem has returned. When it hits cut in pressure, it won't start without some fiddling with the switch. Cuts out fine but doesn't always cut in, only sometimes", how are you determining it is hitting cut in pressure? Are you looking at a gauge? If so, where is the gauge located, before the filter or after the filter? Or are you just going on your perception of when the pump should cut back on?

Is the switch located on the incoming well pipe or is it connected to the tank by a small copper tube?

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

It would be true that the pressure after the filter would be less than the pressure before the filter as long as water is being used. When water is not in use, the pressures would be equal.

When you say, "and now problem has returned. When it hits cut in pressure, it won't start without some fiddling with the switch. Cuts out fine but doesn't always cut in, only sometimes", how are you determining it is hitting cut in pressure? Are you looking at a gauge? If so, where is the gauge located, before the filter or after the filter? Or are you just going on your perception of when the pump should cut back on?

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I was looking at the gauge to see if it had hit20 psi ( cut in pressure)

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Originally Posted by hkstroud

Is the switch located on the incoming well pipe or is it connected to the tank by a small copper tube?

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The switch screws directly into the body of the pump.

If the gauge is located between the tank and filter, and knowing that the switch is on the pump, then the gauge is "seeing" the same pressure as the switch. That being the case, then the switch should respond at 20#. But it sure seems that cleaning the filter solved the problem, so good for you.

Your thinking on the filter is flawed. Water will flow through the filter unless it is completely clogged, which is unlikely. There will only be a pressure drop from one side of the filter to the other when water is being used. It might be 35# before the filter, and only 30# after the filter. Once you turn the water off, the pressure will equalize on both sides. It's not a situation where water will not flow through the filter until the pressure gets up to some level of pressure.

If you keep watching the gauge as pressure falls, at what point does the switch cutin on its own? It might be that you are expecting it to cutin at 20 when in fact it won't do so until 17. You can adjust that cutin point rather easily if you want to.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

If the gauge is located between the tank and filter, and knowing that the switch is on the pump, then the gauge is "seeing" the same pressure as the switch. That being the case, then the switch should respond at 20#. But it sure seems that cleaning the filter solved the problem, so good for you.

Your thinking on the filter is flawed. Water will flow through the filter unless it is completely clogged, which is unlikely. There will only be a pressure drop from one side of the filter to the other when water is being used. It might be 35# before the filter, and only 30# after the filter. Once you turn the water off, the pressure will equalize on both sides. It's not a situation where water will not flow through the filter until the pressure gets up to some level of pressure.

If you keep watching the gauge as pressure falls, at what point does the switch cutin on its own? It might be that you are expecting it to cutin at 20 when in fact it won't do so until 17. You can adjust that cutin point rather easily if you want to.

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Truthfully, I never, just left the water trickling to see if it actually did cut in. Once the flow got to trickle I stopped using the water to go look at the pump, so possibly if I left it running maybe after a minute the pressure would fall low enough that it would cut in. I understand your point about the pressure across the filter and the gauge and the switch are both attached directly to the pump. So possibly, the reason it would not trip the switch was because I was impatient and didn't let the water run to drop the pressure below. 20psi. Usually these gauges don't seem that accurate and maybe I was seeing 21or22 psi and just taking it as 20 psi.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

It would be true that the pressure after the filter would be less than the pressure before the filter as long as water is being used. When water is not in use, the pressures would be equal.

When you say, "and now problem has returned. When it hits cut in pressure, it won't start without some fiddling with the switch. Cuts out fine but doesn't always cut in, only sometimes", how are you determining it is hitting cut in pressure? Are you looking at a gauge? If so, where is the gauge located, before the filter or after the filter? Or are you just going on your perception of when the pump should cut back on?

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I now understand what you are getting at with the question about my "perception" of when it should cut back in. Honestly, the gauge faces the wall, so to see it I have to lean over the pump and read it in an upside down position. Therefore, when I thought I was seeing 20psi I probably was not looking closely enough at it. If that is true then the clogged filter was causing and large pressure difference across it what the water was running, but the switch would have worked if I just kept running the water. So all changing the filter did was reduce the difference across the filter and allow a cut in at a better pressure while the tap was open. Would you agree?

I think you are correct. With the filter clogged, you were experiencing less working pressure in the house than you actually had at the tank. By the time the tank pressure (which the switch reads) fell to 20#, you were somewhere below 20 in the house.

20 is kind of low. I'd step the cut in pressure up to 30. To do so, turn off the power and remove the grey cover on the switch. You will see two nuts mounted on threaded stock. Turn the large, center one a couple of turns clockwise. Turn the power back on and cycle the pump by running water. Check your cut in pressure again. Adjust up by turning CW, and down by turning CCW. Keep at it until you get to 30#. That will also increase the cut off pressure. It is probably 40 now. It will step up to around 50#.

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Originally Posted by jlisenbe

I think you are correct. With the filter clogged, you were experiencing less working pressure in the house than you actually had at the tank. By the time the tank pressure (which the switch reads) fell to 20#, you were somewhere below 20 in the house.

20 is kind of low. I'd step the cut in pressure up to 30. To do so, turn off the power and remove the grey cover on the switch. You will see two nuts mounted on threaded stock. Turn the large, center one a couple of turns clockwise. Turn the power back on and cycle the pump by running water. Check your cut in pressure again. Adjust up by turning CW, and down by turning CCW. Keep at it until you get to 30#. That will also increase the cut off pressure. It is probably 40 now. It will step up to around 50#.

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Thanks for all your help and sticking with it until we got it figured out. I am not a plumber,just a home owner who most times has got to figure out things myself because the people you get to try and fix whatever is broken seem to play a guessing game. So I figure I may as we'll try to learn something and sort it out myself. It also saves me money wasted buying parts I don't need. I have adjusted a pressure switch before, so I can do this without to much worry. Again thank you for your patience

Best wishes. Remember, you did the detective work on the filter.