Well pump experts, need some advice

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
So I am afraid my well pump might be dying out, but I am not a well pump expert so I am not sure. :lol:

Well pump is from 1994, sits 250ft down in my well, not sure how deep my well is.
The pressure switch under the house must have been replaced at some point because I found the cover off of a different one while I was down there.

A few weeks ago I was working on the house and I pressure washed the front of my house. No problem at all. Later in the day I was filling up a small kiddie pool in the back yard and my wife was washing dishes and the water stopped. I turned it all off and 5 minutes later it was all back to normal.

No problems until yesterday. We were having a birthday party for my son so I was filling up the kiddie pool again and we were washing dishes and the water stopped again. I went to the breaker panel and cycled the power and the water came back on. About an hour later it happened again. Turned water off, waited and it came back on fine. No problems till later in the day when my son wanted to try out his new slip and slide. We had it hooked up and the water was spraying out fine and then the pressure dropped down. I climbed under the house to the tank and switch and checked the gauge. The pressure was sitting at like 30lbs and then it would jump up to 60lbs for a little while and then drop back down to 30-40lbs and sit there for a while before jumping back up. Spent more time at 30lbs than 60lbs. Today no problems at all, but the pressure seems to be lower than normal, probably more at 30lbs than 60lbs.

Do you think it might be the pressure switch? In one of my old houses the tube between the feed and pressure switch got plugged up and it caused problems, but it was just an on-off issues and not a pressure issue. I mean, maybe it is partially clogged and not seeing the right pressure and I am reading actual pressure downstream of the switch on the gauge.

Now that I am typing this I kind of see how it could be the switch so since that is cheap maybe I'll replace it and clean the inlet tube tomorrow.

Any other ideas though?
 
The tank bladder could be bad.
The pressure switch could be going out.
The filter on the head could be clogged.

IME...when well pumps go (Ive had the joy of experiencing that twice) they go and are gone.
 
Ron said:
The tank bladder could be bad.
The pressure switch could be going out.
The filter on the head could be clogged.

IME...when well pumps go (Ive had the joy of experiencing that twice) they go and are gone.
Click to expand...

This. Either that, or your pump may need lowering, if you've had a DRY year. Normally the pump will work or not. Could be a broken wire leading to the pump.
 
We have had a pretty wet year, I doubt it needs lowering. On Saturday it wasn't like I was using a ton of water, the kiddie pool is no worse than a bathtub. Today it was fine, showers, kids took a bath tonight, never cut out. Pressure does seem lower but not terrible.

I am going to replace (or clean) the switch tomorrow night and hope that is it. If not, I'll check the other things. It is good to hear that when they go, they are dead. That makes me feel better about it not being the pump. I figured it was something similar to the fuel pump in a car, they just die.
 
sounds like the pressure switch is bad. Ours did the same thing when we first moved in our house. Pressure up and down b/c the switch wasnt working right. We're on county water now and I use the well for irrigation. I bypassed the pressure switch and bladder and run it off a 220 timer now. It runs 3 sprinkler heads for an hour and a half with no problem at 60psi and 12gpm
 
Im going to throw this out its probably obvious but I had to help my BIL once and he hadnt a clue.

The pressure switch works off differential pressure between the reference tube AND a spring pressure. You can adjust the switch point by tightening or loosening the tension nut of the spring. Why do I mention thiss, if the nylon has worn out over time the nut may vibrate up higher and higher until you essentially ahve a pressure switch set at nothing. Its worth a free check
 
I did already check that, I pulled the box off and looked inside of it and it looked to be in good condition and things were tight. The pressure is holding steady most of the time at 60lbs, but just occasionally it goes wonky.

My neighbor said we have a lot of mud in our wells and the tube for his pressure switch gets plugged up every few years and he cleans it out and it works fine again. Going to try that tonight.
 
Ron said:
IME...when well pumps go (Ive had the joy of experiencing that twice) they go and are gone.
Click to expand...

Same here. The well pump at our old house went bad back in 2008-2009 probably. When it died, that was it. We had no water at all. There were no signs of it dying. Great water one day, none the next.
 
These threads makes me soooo thankful I have the other kind of pump setup w/ the pump inside the house in the basement... system so simple and easy access to everything!
 
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