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BeetleBailey · Oct 29, 2008, 09:21 PM

My house is on a residential well. Recently my water pressure would drop, sometimes the water would stop completely before coming back on. I found that the pump motor was very slow in starting, which turned out to be a bad start capacitor. Now that the pump is starting correctly, I still have a momentary pressure drop when the pressure switch kicks in (40 psi). I've got a fairly new (5 years old) pressure tank, and the pressure reads 38 psi when empty, however if I shut off the water supply at the pump and let the water run, when the tank runs down, the flow stops quite suddenly, as if I've slammed a ball valve shut. It seems like the flow should gradually drop rather than this sudden stop. It seems like I've got water left in the pressure tank, but shutting everything down and then opening a hose bib near it gets the above results... a sudden stop. I can hear a bubble or two percolate up through water when the flow stops. I can't figure out how to completely evacuate the pressure tank, if indeed that is the problem.
Any advice is appreciated.

BeetleBailey · Nov 2, 2008, 08:35 PM

I'm afraid I don't understand. "Bump"?

ballengerb1 · Nov 2, 2008, 08:46 PM

Tom liked your question enough that he gave it a bump by posting anything to it, that moves it back to the top of the list for some old guy like me to find. Tom is a retired plumber and I do house flips and repair/installation. Many of us just don't have much experience with wells because of where we live so we can't alwys help. If you have a bad water heater or plugged drain we are johnny on the spot. Good news is, since I posted too, you are back to the top of the list for 11-3

speedball1 · Nov 3, 2008, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by BeetleBailey

I'm afraid I don't understand. "Bump"?

That was just to move your question up to where it could be seen and answered. I deleted my " bump post"

jlisenbe · Nov 3, 2008, 02:50 PM

1. How large is the pressure tank?
2. The primary concern should be how much water will the pressure tank "produce" between pump cycles. If your tank is the average 40 gallon or so bladder tank, then you should be able to easily get at least six or seven gallons between pump cycles. It really is not important what the tank is doing with the pump shut off, or what it does below 40 pounds. That is all artificial. Use an outdoor faucet and five gallon bucket to measure output between cycles.