Pressure switch for well pump

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
We bought this house back in Jan. at the time, I felt like teh presure was low, but wife convinced me to get over it.
Well now that i've been washing the truck a lot, it's obvious, sometimes it downright sucks - barely a trickle out of the hose, lol.

Took a look at the specs on teh well pump and attached switch - low and behold, that sucker (old Sq D box) is labeled 20-on, 40 off. Holy crap. now according to the guage, after pumping it's ~45, but that's still pretty low.

Sooo... is there anything special about just replacing that switch w/ say a 30/50 or better yet, 40/60? E.g., could that pose a problem w/ the pump, or the tank? No clue how old they are, house is 43 y/o.
There's what I assume is a sensor wire going from the outlet of the pump, into the box - would this be specific to the switch range?
 
Get a prof to check the pressure in the bladder tank.
 
there should be a shrader valve on the pressure tank you can add air to the bladder and increase/stabalized.
 
also possible the pressure tank has a ruptured bladder...
 
?? OK guys maybe I'm missing something -
but why can't the problem just be that the switch is only a 20-40 (that's what it is labeled) and that's why the pressure is low.
I know you can adjust the screws to get a little more/less, I'm guessing the PO cranked it a little to get the top up above 40 a bit.
How much can you typically adjust them?
 
40 isn't bad presure. That's what most houses run. And it should be consistantpretty constantly...UNLESS your bladder's bad! Google it or have somebody come out and check it out. You've got other problems. Don't go wasting $30 on a switch that isn't bad.

Heresay: I've HEARD, but never experienced, that upping the pressure on an old house like that can cause ruptures in pipes and joints that have had years to acclimate to 45 psi. In theory, not probable. In reality, I've been wrong before.
 
I had the same problem and I noticed that when I ran alot of water my tank would sweat and when I checked the blader pressure it blew water out. I bet my tank weight 300 lbs I ended up punching a hole in the top and one in the bottom to drain it just to move it out but it had no pressure on it at all. While taking a shower you could tell when the pump came on.
 
catfishblues said:
40 isn't bad presure. That's what most houses run. And it should be consistantpretty constantly...UNLESS your bladder's bad! Google it or have somebody come out and check it out. You've got other problems. Don't go wasting $30 on a switch that isn't bad.
Heresay: I've HEARD, but never experienced, that upping the pressure on an old house like that can cause ruptures in pipes and joints that have had years to acclimate to 45 psi. In theory, not probable. In reality, I've been wrong before.
Click to expand...

I can deal with 40 - it's when it gets down to 20 that is sucks.

Basically, if you run water awhile, the pressure drops slowly (it takes awhile), once it hits 20 PSI, the pump kicks onand builds it up to 45ish and cuts off. Then if water is still running, it slowly goes back down etc.
yes, if you're in the shower at the time, you can feel te hdifference when the pump kicks on. it takes a long time to cut down, like the pump will only run once maybe while in the shower.
Is that not how it should work? The pressure should always be constant? I don't see how that is possible. The last place we lived (after Lewisville, that was city water) was on a well and was exactly the same.

98% of the pipes have been replaced, are now all PVC, aparently the water is a bit acidic and slowly ate the pipes over the years.
 
GotWood said:
there should be a shrader valve on the pressure tank you can add air to the bladder and increase/stabalized.
Click to expand...
the bladder/tank regulates the pressure just like an air compressor tank.
 
Just got done with the same problem. Black granular crap had clogged the well filter and the main line filter to the house. Hell I didnt know there was a filter but I just married into this.

New filter and I have GREAT pressure now.
 
catfishblues said:
I could shower or run a hose for an hour or more in my house and never notice a drop in pressure. You've got another problem, I think.
Click to expand...

But I'm wondering if that's related to the overall pressure being so low here vs your place?
20 psi is so low it's like somebody pissing on your head.
I'd think that the noticible, perceptual difference between say 40 and 60 psi is very small compared to 20 and 45. For you it is always relatively high...?

I'm not saying it's not possible something's up w/ the bladder/tank; but when we bought the house, we had the whole system checked out, reported back no problems. Nothing has changed since then, I'm just now getting around to investigating it.

I just think the old lady that lived here (they built the house) didn't care about low pressure and to be miserly, just left the 20/40 unit on there.
I don't see many switches rated for only 20/40, most are 30/50 or more commonly, 40/60.
I don't think the switch is *faulty*, just insufficient for anything practical, especially when the outdoor spickots are >50 feet away, then another 50 ft hose on them, when it drops down into that lower range.

Franklin said:
Just got done with the same problem. Black granular crap had clogged the well filter and the main line filter to the house. Hell I didnt know there was a filter but I just married into this.
New filter and I have GREAT pressure now.
Click to expand...

That was the first thing I checked. Filter is good. The last place we lived was really bad about the filter getting clogged, like clockwork every 5 weeks you could tell the pressure was declining, time to change the filter.


So I guess the real question is, how often should the tank have to be repressurized (e.g., the pump run)?
 
No fawking way I'd up the pressure. You'll end up replumbing the house. Edit: saw that's already been done... meh, might as well go to 30...? Worst case you have to mop up a mess and do some sheetrock repair. :flipoff2:

How often the pump runs depends on the flow rate of the pump and the size of the reserve tank. Could be that your bladder is shot, could be clogged particulate filters, could be a bad check valve. I'd bet it's a combination of all those things, plus a tank that's too small or paired incorrectly with the pump.

My parents added a huge damn tank and replaced the pump with a higher flow one when they added on a few years ago. Makes a big difference both in cutting the frequency of pump cycling and shortening the time the pump has to run.
 
The tank thats on there now looks pretty big to me - it's easily the size of a 40+gallon water tank, def > 2x the size of the one in our old place.

I have no idea how long it takes to empty out, but it seems awhile to me. Like I said at most the pump kicks once during a shower, but that depends where the pressure sits when you start. I really don't hear/notice it very often during the day. At our old place it was running several times a day.

But now that you guys have me thinking about it, maybe this evening I'll just open a valve, let it empty and clock that sucker.
 
Here's another theory to consider...

Was the house originally plumbed in copper? Do you have hard water?

Maybe they swapped in a lower pressure switch when the pipes started to fail.
 
You may want to check the pre-charge of the pressure tank, but you can only do that when the system is de-pressurized.

Cut power to the well pump and let the water drain until there is no pressure on the system, there should be a pressure guage attached to a tee right before the tank, it should read 0 PSI. Then check the pre-charge on the pressure tank(there'll be a shrader valve somewhere, most likely on the top of the pressure tank). It should be around 2 PSI lower than the cut-in pressure (Since you have a 20/40 it needs to be 18 psi)

One thing to note though, going to a 30/50 pressure switch may give you better pressure, but it will lessen your drawdown and make your pump run more, not a big deal, but something to consider.

This is a a good read: http://www.terrylove.com/forums/showthread.php?20849-Pressure-Tank-Maintenance

You may need to swap out that tank if it's the old style, they take a lot of maintenance to keep it going right.

If it is in fact an older style tank and not a Bladder or Captive Air tank, then the previous information does not apply.


One last thing to consider, what are the pipes going to the tank, Galvanized? Galvanized will rust shut with time, and that's what happened to me, I swapped them out for brass, and a new tank. Works great now.
 
The Terry Love forums are a great source for anything plumbing-related. I'd forgotten all about that place.
 
i want this thread to die soon......everytime i see the title that stupid "under pressure" song from queen starts running through my head.
 
Another thing I've ran into w/ some of my rental houses is the small 3/8'' nipple which you probably have that your pressure switch screws on may be clogged not allowing the pressure in the switch out so it won't allow it to come on till that water seeps out enough. Check your gauge on the output side!! When this happened to me the bladder tank was holding like 95 psi cause the clogged pipe would also keep the switch from cutting the pump off.
 
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