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lhburk09 · Aug 17, 2009, 09:07 PM

Have an issue not seen on our well system to date. Drilled and installed in 1985.
Wife was here when work was done originally, says well is over 300 feet deep.
The flow is stopping and starting when demand is exceeding pump capacity.
I installed a new pressure switch today to eliminate that as the issue.
When Pressure is there it is topping out at 50PSI. With no demand the pressure holds.
If I open a faucet it will keep pressure for a little bit then when pump comes on the pressure tries to hold but then drops off, it will sometimes go all the way to 0 PSI stay there for several seconds then pick right back up again.

Any suggestions? And I am going home now so will not see any answers until morning.

jlisenbe · Aug 18, 2009, 03:28 AM

IH, when a pressure tank is waterlogged it will produce symptoms such as you have described. MOst systems now have bladder tanks, which are generally blue but can be colors other than simply galvanized. If you have one of those, press the little air valve at the top for a few seconds. Does water come out? If so, then the bladder is shot and the tank needs replacing.

lhburk09 · Aug 18, 2009, 01:47 PM

Originally Posted by jlisenbe

IH, when a pressure tank is waterlogged it will produce symptoms such as you have described. MOst systems now have bladder tanks, which are generally blue in color but can be colors other than simply galvanized. If you have one of those, press the little air valve at the top for a few seconds. Does water come out? If so, then the bladder is shot and the tank needs replacing.

Yes we do have a blue expansion tank and yesterday I rechecked the pressure and reset the pre-charge to 28 PSI. I did not get any water from the valve stem.

I installed a NEW pressure gauge today. I am getting a solid 50 PSI and then the pump shuts off as expected. As pressure drops the NEW switch turns the pump on at 30 PSI as expected and as long as there is a low demand it keeps up. However as soon as I open up the hose full on it will drop off and when the pressure gets below 20 PSI it seams to just give up and stream out of the hose goes to just about nothing. I also hear what sounds like air going through the line coming from the well. Our system has never done this before.
I am doing all of this 100-150 feet away from the well in the crawl space under the house where the switch and gauge and expansion tank are.

lhburk09 · Aug 18, 2009, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by lhburk09

Yes we do have a blue expansion tank and yesterday I rechecked the pressure and reset the pre-charge to 28 PSI. I did not get any water from the valve stem.

I installed a NEW pressure gauge today. I am getting a solid 50 PSI and then the pump shuts off as expected. as pressure drops the NEW switch turns the pump on at 30 PSI as expected and as long as there is a low demand it keeps up. However as soon as I open up the hose full on it will drop off and when the pressure gets below 20 PSI it seams to just give up and stream out of the hose goes to just about nothing. I also hear what sounds like air going through the line coming from the well. Our system has never done this before.
I am doing all of this 100-150 feet away from the well in the crawl space under the house where the switch and gauge and expansion tank are.

I also checked the voltage at the switch going to the pump while the pressure dropped off to 0 PSI the pump was getting a solid 220 Volts.

jlisenbe · Aug 18, 2009, 02:59 PM

At 300', I am assuming the pump is in the well as opposed to above ground. It is possible your water table has dropped such that the pump is cavitating some, meaning it is pumping air and water. It is also possible that your wellpipe is leaking so that all of the water doesn't make it to the tank. I have seen old wellpipe (galvanized pipe) that was so obstructed by rust that you could hardly have gotten a pencil through it.

24 years on a submerged pump is getting a little on the old side. Could be a pump problem. At any rate, I don't think there are any simple answers for you, at least not from me. Hopefully others on this site will see something that I am missing.

lhburk09 · Aug 18, 2009, 04:18 PM

Thanks for the help, I think I need to get a certified well guy out here to pull the pump out and check it... $$$$ :confused:

mygirlsdad77 · Aug 18, 2009, 04:42 PM

Good idea. It really sounds to me like you are sucking the well dry. May need to have well cleaned, or (worst case senario, a new well drilled). However, if well is 300 feet deep, you may be able to lower the pump and solve the problem. One easy way to determine if well is being sucked dry is to go out to the actuall well, pull the well seal then have someone run large amounts of water in the house and just listen at the well to see if you hear a change is noise( if sucking well, you will hear a humming noise at first, then you will hear s gurgling noise when well runs dry). Please let us know what you find. Good luck, Lee.

lhburk09 · Aug 18, 2009, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by mygirlsdad77

Good idea. It really sounds to me like you are sucking the well dry. May need to have well cleaned, or (worst case senario, a new well drilled). However, if well is 300 feet deep, you may be able to lower the pump and solve the problem. One easy way to determine if well is being sucked dry is to go out to the actuall well, pull the well seal then have someone run large amounts of water in the house and just listen at the well to see if you hear a change is noise( if sucking well, you will hear a humming noise at first, then you wil hear s gurgling noise when well runs dry). Please let us know what you find. Good luck, Lee.

Thanks Lee,
Well guy should be able to get out Thursday...

mygirlsdad77 · Aug 18, 2009, 07:22 PM

Please keep us posted, and I truly hope its an easy fix. Take care. Lee.