[hairba11]

The well is reportedly 350 feet deep,
Franklin pump control rated for 1hp
Square D pressure switch
Champion bladder tank about the size of a 30 gallon water heater
One inch cast iron Inlet from the pump.

I suffered from low water pressure for a couple of years, then started messing with this stuff in the basement.
The pump on was set at 10psi, pump off was set at 25psi, and there was about 14psi in the pressure tank (with water present)

Every time (most notably in the shower) there would be a little hiccup and about 5 seconds with nothing before the trickle of water came back on.

I read the label on the pressure tank, disconnected the well pump, connected a hose to the valve outside of it, and drained the tank till the pressure gage read zero.

I aired the tank up to 28psi (from about 5) with the valve open so any extra water could escape, closed the valve on the bottom, turned the pump back on and cranked down the pump on/off set point and the pump off set point till the pump turned off at 50psi, and on at 30.

This fixed my water pressure issue, but now there is almost a 2 minute delay between flow stopping, and the pump kicking on.

There is no flowmeter, but feeling the water flow in the pipe, it slows down at about 32psi and just sits there for a minute or two before the well pump kicks on and brings back pressure.

I was watching this while a friend of mine ran the pressure washer outside and I monitored tank pressure and water pressure.
The pressure washer uses 4gpm, and the well pump was able to out run it and bring itself back up to the cut off point.

Every time the tank pressure is lower than the water pressure, approximately 25psi when pump on hits 30psi, but when water pressure hits about 32 or 33 it comes to a stop.

5 seconds with no water I can live with, 2 minutes is annoying.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me?

Thank you very much, I tried to be as complete in my description as possible, if you have any questions or need more information please don't hesitate to ask.
I can take pictures and video too if needed.

Thanks again.
H

[speedball1]

If the contacts in the control box don't close when the pressures falls below 30 PSI I would purchase a 30/50 control box and see if that didn't take care of the wait. Good luck, Tom

[hairba11]

The contacts close fine when they decide to, both sets snap into place firmly. I have thought about lowering the air pressure in the bladder to see it it would alow the pump on to kick on sooner.
I just don't know if it would work

Tim

[speedball1]

What's the cut in PSI of your control box and what's the charge pressure in the bladder tank? In case you need instruction on recharging your bladder tank, here's how.To set the air pressure in a bladder tank, look at the cut-in pressure on your pressure switch. Now drain the line down with the pump off. When there is no more water coming out of the hose bib that you drained the system down with set the pressure in the bladder tank at 2 lbs. below the cut-in pressure. Check it with a tire gage. If your pressure control is set to come on at 20 PSI and go off at 40 PSI then your gage should read 18 PSI. Hope this helps and thank you for rating my reply. Tom

[hairba11]

I guess the tank wasn't completely empty when I charged the tank,
Letting a couple of more psi out of it has minimized the shower interruption
Power washing at 4gpm still has issues

[hairba11]

Got it figured out.

The T that the pressure switch and gage were connected to was completely blocked by sediment from the cast Iron pipe.

I drained the tank completely, and the gage still read 35psi, so I out a wrench to the gage, and as I loosened it a drop of water came out and the gage dropped to 0.

There was rust and sediment behind the gage in the T that the pressure switch is connected to, so I disconnected the wiring, took the switch out, pulled the whole 3/4 to 1/4 bushing and pipe pieces out and had to drill out the sediment.

Then I soaked the pieces in lime-a-way, took the pressure switch apart and soaked the water contacting pieces of it too.

After about an hour, I rinsed everything off with gallon jugs of water, put it all back together, reset the air pressure in the bladder tank, turned the well and water on and haven't had trouble since.

[speedball1]

Timl! Proud of you! Don't it just make you feel all warm and fuzzy when a plan comes together? Good work, Tom

[hairba11]

Thanks Tom,
But what make me really warm and fuzzy is not having the hot water in the shower turn off for 2-4 minutes waiting in a cool November bathroom for the pressure behind the blockage to drop enough to get it going again!

[mygirlsdad77]

Just a suggestion. Replace any black iron pipe or fitting that you have in your system. Galvanized pipe is bad enough, but black iron should never be used in a water system, period. If you don't replace all black iron, you will continue to have this problem over and over again, until you have a serious leak occur in the black iron piping. You must notice rust collored water coming out of your fuacets when you turn them on? Constant problems with plugged aerators? Black iron never has been and never will be approved for potable water piping.



Sorry , I read it as black iron, not cast iron, either way, time to update to copper, or plastic pipe, get rid of any iron you have, and you will be better off.

[hairba11]

The house is all copper, except for the pvc around the pressure tank.
The only iron I can see is about 4" of it before it goes through the wall into the ground.

This was the first occurrence in 6 years of living here, and I doubt it had been cleaned since it was installed.
I can deal with that, now that I know what it is.

A lot easier than digging up all the iron pipe. :-)