Deep Well Jet Pump Whimping Out

[Sphyrna]

Hi,

I'm hoping I can get some help diagnosing problems we are having with our well pump. We have a 75' well, 75 gal. pressure tank (checked air pressure empty - was 18lbs.), water boss acid neutralizing filter and water softener and water heater. The pump is a Water Ace R100, 1HP, deep well, jet pump. The water pressure was always a little less than we would have liked with this system, even when it was new, but wouldn't drop suddenly, like it has started doing recently. We also have very high electric bills and I wonder if it could be related to the water pump. Our pressure gauge is also broken, to complicate matters.

About a month ago, we noticed that if we were running water in the kitchen and the shower, the water pressure would drop to a trickle. If the taps were turned off for a while and we used only one tap, it worked like normal.

I also noticed that the pump was running constantly, but didn't seem overly hot, just warm. Also, when the pressure tank had been emptied the pump would make a rough chugging noise every 5 seconds or so, but when the pressure tank started to fill, the sound went away. It didn't seem to be building enough pressure to trigger the pressure switch to turn off the pump.

I replaced the 40-60 pressure switch with a 20-40 on the advise of a Lowe's helper, but it still wouldn't cut the pump off. I bought a replacement pressure gauge, but could not remove the old one with out resorting to the hammer. After much more messing and tinkering and time on the phone with the manufacturer, I finally kept reducing the pressure switch setting until it cut the pump off. I did notice that the pump came with an oem 20-40 switch, I don't know if the 40-60 that was on the pump could have caused damage, the pressure tank pressure was too low for 40-60 anyway, unless the plumber changed the settings.

For now, we seem to be operating much as before, but the pump is not running all the time.

What do you guys think?

The manufacturer said it could be a bad impeller or a leak in the pipes to the well. They suggested I wrap the joints going to the well with kitchen plastic, to see if it was an air leak, but it didn't seem to make a difference.

With the pump chugging, could it be getting air in the pipe? Or does a pump make a similar sound when the impeller is going bad?

Is it okay to limp along with the low pressure switch settings? A new pump isn't really in the budget right now.

Thanks for any advise.

Elizabeth

 

[Akpsdvan]

Age of the pump?
Quality of water pump is pumping?

If pump has some years, and the quality of water is not great, then I would say bad impeller, they do go bad and are not that big of a deal to replace or have a spare on hand when this happens again.

With that number of systems in the water stream there is going to be a lose of pressure.

One thing that you could change would be to go from calcite to correct the ph to soda ash to correct the ph... then there would be less media in the way of the water flow and some better pressure.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[NHmaster]

I'm gonna think that the jet may be plugged. If it's down the well (two lines from pump) it needs to come up and get reamed out. Rust and crap get in there. If it's in the pump, it needs the same treatment but is a bit easier to access

 

[Sphyrna]

Thanks for the ideas

The pump is 8yo, the water it is pumping is clear, cold and normal.

I am going to try to find out about the soda ash.

Is there any way to test, to see if the impeller or clogged pipe is the problem?

So far our pressure is a little less than normal, but it hung on last night through two showers.

I have been reading about the pressure control valves, and they sound like a good idea, but would I use one with our large water pressure tank?

Thanks again.

 

[Valveman]

Large tank won't hurt anything but, you have to get the pump working correctly first.

 

[Sphyrna]

I forgot to mention, last night I noticed a very slow leak between the pump motor and cast iron part with the pipe outlets.

Also, if it were a well piping problem, why would the pump shut off with the lower pressure switch settings, wouldn't it just keep losing pressure? We have had abnormally cold weather lately, so I suppose something could have frozen, causing a leak. If I am going to have to take this all apart should I install the pressure regulator that the instruction manual recommends?

 

[RayMan]

Could your pump be pumping all the available water in your well's aquifer down to a point where it's dry? and the well's aquifer needs time to recover to fill with water again.You may need to install a small storage tank to keep up with your demand.
When you reduced the pressure on the control switch you shortened the pumps running time which may have given the well enough time to recover. Be certain the pump runs for at least one min. before it shuts down or you could damage the pump if this is the problem.