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    redace24's Avatar
    redace24 Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Dec 8, 2009, 06:34 AM
    Water pump pressure builds too high and won't cut off
    I recently had to turn the water off to my house to replace the hot water heater. After we replaced the hot water heater, we went to turn the water back on but the pump had lost all of it's pressure. I was able to re-prime the pump and get water flowing to the house again. Problem solved, right?! Well, yes but NEW problem!
    When I got the water flowing I manually cut it off to see if it would kick back in when it reached the cut in point. It successfully kicked back on when it reached in the neighborhood of 33PSI.
    Problem is, it kept running and running and running. It got up as high as 85PSI before I turned it off (I read that 70-80PSI can easily burst pipes).
    The pump was cutting in and off just fine before I had to reprime the system.
    I am at a loss here, seems like one problem solved creates another. Anyone offer any suggestions?

    I also tried adjusting the small nut for the gap between cut in and cut out and that was unsuccessful. I spent several hours last night trying and gave up because the pump was getting hot and I didn't want to burn it out.
    speedball1's Avatar
    speedball1 Posts: 29,301, Reputation: 1939
    Eternal Plumber
    		  
    #2

    Dec 8, 2009, 06:45 AM

    Did the contacts fuse together? The first thing I would check is the small tube running from the pump to the control box for a clog. If you can't find anything then I'd replace the control box. Good luck, tom
    redace24's Avatar
    redace24 Posts: 2, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #3

    Dec 8, 2009, 07:02 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by speedball1 View Post
    Did the contacts fuse together? The first thing I would check is the small tube running from the pump to the control box for a clog. If you can't find anything then I'd replace the control box. Good luck, tom
    Thank you for the lightning fast response. I will check the tubing first. There is definitely a chance that some impurities got into the water. We pulled off the gauge and it was gunked up with some rusty corrosion. Some of that could have broken loose while taking the gauge off.
    jlisenbe's Avatar
    jlisenbe Posts: 5,020, Reputation: 157
    Uber Member
    		  
    #4

    Dec 8, 2009, 08:28 AM

    Check the points first. They are sticking together for some reason. With the power off, see if you can move them apart. If not, then, as SB stated, they are fused together.

    If I was going to remove the switch to check the pipe, which is a good idea, then I would consider replacing the switch since it's such a cheap deal... twenty bucks or so.
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