After having so much trouble with trying to stop a leak from 40 plus year old PE pipe, I had to bite the bullet and get a new line run from well to house using Schedule 40 PVC.

After everything was hooked up and the water was turned back on, I checked all the faucets in the house and flushed the toilet. As soon as I pushed the handle down, I heard a strange pop noise. I noticed the refill sounded different and took a lot longer. I took the lid off and could see that there was just a very small stream of water coming out of the tube from the fill valve into the overflow. It is a Fluidmaster 400A fill valve, and I attached the 215 water saving clamp with refill tube several years ago. I dialed it back to where it is supposed to get a full flow, and it looked good, had a good flow and pressure to it. However, it is taking the toilet tank 4 minutes to fill, whereas before it would fill in 2 minutes or a tad over. With no restrictions on the flow from tube and after lowering water level in tank, it still takes about 3 1/2 to 4 minutes fro tank to fill.

I'm also noticing the well pump seems to come on a lot quicker, like it's not getting as much drawdown as before. I could flush the toilet (it is and old one that uses 4-5 gallons per flush, and usually the pump would come on at the tail end of the refill. Wondering why this started and what might be causing it. I've thought about replacing the fill valve to see if that would speed up the tank refill, but can't figure out how or why it is affecting the pump. Any ideas and/or suggestions?

Did you flush the fill valve? Sounds like debris is in the valve disc area. Is your bladder tank properly inflated?

The Fluidmaster stem has dirt in it. Turn water off under the toilet. Reach inside the tank and down on the Fluidmaster stem. There will be a plastic ring towards the bottom of the stem. Grab the ring tight and pull it up. It should slide up. Then pull on the upper part of the Fluidmaster valve and remove it. Look inside. There will be debris. Clean it. Renistall the upper portion of Fluidmaster valve and slide the ring back towards the bottom. Make sure that ring is down as much as it goes. Turn water back ON. It should work

Otherwise, get new Fluidmaster vavle and install it.

Hope that helps

Milo

I am going to replace the valve rather than try to flush out debris, it has been in there quite a while. I'll provide an update on how that works. As far as pressure in well tank, there is no pressure gauge, so I'm not sure at what psi pump is cutting in and off. I think the pressure switch is 30/50, but not 100% sure. Is there any way to check the pressure? Is it possible to use a dial-type tire pressure gauge and put it on the schrader valve and see at what pressure the pump comes on and goes off? My gut tells me the pressure between the pump and switch has been off for quite some time.

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Is it possible to use a dial-type tire pressure gauge and put it on the schrader valve and see at what pressure the pump comes on and goes off?

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Yes, you can do that. Also, if you will remove the cover from the pressure switch, it will tell you inside the cover what the switch settings are.

Well I tried to replace the fill valve but couldn't get the nut loose from the supply as it was up against the nut holding the valve to the tank. I tried and tried to no avail, actually I was scared to try too much and cause an even bigger problem. So I took the cap off the old valve and flushed it out, but the slow refill problem remained. Finally got fed up and called the plumber. He was able to put the new fill valve in (even he had a little bit of trouble trying to get the nut off), but I am going to need to have the flush valve replaced as well.

The new fill valve seems to have corrected the slow fill problem, however it is set to where it only fills the tank about halfway instead of to the fill line as before. It flushes just as well as before and I'm saving some water.

Here is where things get interesting. The well pump still comes on pretty quick, I'd estimate it coming on after about 2 gallons of water used. It still comes on during every flush even with the toilet now set to use only half the water as before. The switch cover says it is a 30/50, but I'm not 100% certain because the switch was changed about 10 years ago (plumber put on a switch he had on another pump at his shop). There is a picture underneath the switch cover, but it doesn't match up with what the switch looks like, therefore my uncertainty.

I did put the tire gauge on the tank after it was full, and it read 54 psi. I turned a faucet on and put the gauge on it as soon as the pump cut on and it read about 32 psi. The tank is a Goulds V60 and the info online says it is pre-charged at the factory to 38 psi. It says the drawdown at 30/50 is 6.8 gallons, and 40/60 is 5.8 gallons and I'm getting no where close to either. I jiggled the tank and could not hear any water sloshing around and I tapped on it from the bottom up so I don't think the tank is waterlogged. I haven't noticed any wet spots along the ground where the new water line was installed, and no leaks in or under the house.

Any idea what the problem may be and what I can do to remedy it? I apologize for the long posts, but I'm trying to learn and educate myself and all of your answers and advice is really appreciated.

The 38# precharge is too high. It is precharged for a 40/60 switch. To correct that, drain the tank by turning off the power and turning on a low level faucet until the system pressure reads zero or near zero. The pressure at that point in the tank needs to be 30#. Add/bleed air until you get that reading. Turn on the power and let the pump get up to cut-off pressure. Run water into a five gallon bucket and see how much you get until the pump cuts back on. Get back to us with that info.

Your tank is a 20 gallon tank and should be giving you about a six gallon drawdown if all is well.

I have been out of town the past several days, so today I did what jlisenbe suggested. I cut the power and drained the tank of water. I ended up draining between 6 and 7 gallons. I checked the pressure on the empty tank with a tire gauge and it read about 18#. With a small compressor, I added air until the pressure in the tank reached about 28#. Turned the power back on and noticed the pump ran a bit longer than before to fill the tank.

I did not try to run water into a bucket to see how much I got. But I did flush the toilet (estimate 3 gallons used) and have washed my hands a few times and rinsed some dishes without the pump coming on, so apparently I am now getting a higher drawdown. I'll see how it does over the next day or so and let you know the results.

With the pressure in the empty tank being 18#, my thought was that maybe the switch was 20/40. But if that were the case, the filled tank wouldn't have read about 54# and I would have been getting a whole lot more drawdown prior to pump coming on, correct?

Putting in a 28# charge was correct. I have no idea why I said 30# other than I am not a spring chicken anymore.

Your switch might have been adjusted some over the years. If it is still set for 30/50, then the pump should cutoff at 50. You might just watch it and listen for the switch to click when it cuts the pump off or on. It might be set for more like 34/54. If that's the case, then you could adjust your tank charge to 32#. It should be 2# under the point where the pump cuts on.

I don't at all think you have a 20/40 switch.

Glad it is working better. That is the only positive about a well pump problem. It feels really good when you finally get it fixed. Kind of like getting "well" after being sick.

Got new flush valve installed yesterday and am still getting a higher drawdown after adding air to the tank. I agree it may be set at something like 34/54, but will adding 2# make that much of a difference? Can't get an exact reading on what pressure the cut-in is without a gauge installed. Using the tire gauge gives me a good idea, but will definitely have a gauge installed next time I have any work done on it.

I probably need a bigger tank with a 5gpf toilet (but set lower now) and an older washing machine (40-45 gal./load), but with the pump and tank enclosed in a cinder block housing, there just isn't any room to go bigger.

Not sure what the gpm of the pump is (1/2 hp). When taking a shower, pump comes on and runs until turn water off. I've timed pump run time during filling the washer at 5-6 min. Is that reasonable? Concerned about pump overheating or burning the motor up.

I've heard it's better for a pump to cycle less but run longer during each cycle. I'm trying to learn more about this stuff, so I really appreciate your answers and replies.

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When taking a shower, pump comes on and runs until turn water off. I've timed pump run time during filling the washer at 5-6 min. Is that reasonable? Concerned about pump overheating or burning the motor up.

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Typically, your pump should be able to keep up with a shower, but that would also depend on the depth of the well. If I remember correctly, this is a shallow well pump so water depth changing even a few feet can make a difference.

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I've heard it's better for a pump to cycle less but run longer during each cycle. I'm trying to learn more about this stuff, so I really appreciate your answers and replies.

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You are correct about the pump cycling, but it sounds like yours tends to run long cycles anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it. A larger tank is a good thing, but it sounds like that is not a possibility with your setup. At any rate, with the pump above ground, if you eventually burn up a pump, it would be easy enough to replace.

BTW, I wouldn't worry about changing the tank charge over a 2 or 3 psi difference.

Thanks for all your help and advice. I didn't think 2-3# would make much difference. I'm not sure the depth of the well, but the pump is a two-line jet pump, 1/2 hp.

It has a longer cycle time now since adding air to the tank and I'm still getting a higher drawdown as well, so I should probably leave well enough alone for now.

It's funny how you don't think about air pressure in a tank, cycle times, etc. until something goes wrong. It's all candies and nuts until you're washing your butt in the shower, all soaped up and the water stops flowing. That actually happened to me many years ago.

I'll monitor how it does over the next several days, and I'm going to check the tank pressure every 6 months to a year now that I know what a difference it can make!

I got you confused with another poster who had a single pipe, shallow well pump. You can look up your pump specs on the internet and see what kind of volume you should be able to expect from it. At a half horse, it is not going to give you the same volume as a submersible pump. You seem happy with it now, so I wouldn't spend much more time with it. I would put a pressure gauge on at some point since that is so useful in diagnosing/fixing problems.