Help! I have no water!

[ericbar]

I need some serious help. My wife is very pregnant and all of the sudden we have no water coming out of our faucets. If I turn the water off and wait a few minutes I will have water for about 15 seconds and it slowly loses pressure down to a trickle and then nothing. If I flush the toilet, it takes a little bit longer before water will come out of the faucet for 15 seconds. I have an xtrol wx 203 well tank and a jacuzzi submersible pump. The well tank contains no water now, not even when I am able to run water out of the faucet for 15 seconds. Can someone help me?

 

[Alternety]

Is there anything before the tank; like a filter? If there is a filter, remove or bypass it and see what happens.

How do you know there is no water in the pressure tank?

No filter - Look at the insides of the pressure switch. Are the contacts closed when the tank is empty. Be careful. The stuff inside there can kill you if you fat finger it. You can check with a meter if you have one.

If no, you probably have a bad switch. If contacts are closed, probably the pump; or much less likely the well is going dry. There could also be a leak in the piping from the well to the tank, or a clog in a filter at the pump. Some of that is a function of what kind of pump it is. If ther eis a starter box for the pump it could be bad.

Is there a pressure Gage on the tank? What does it read while things are going on?

Even if the bladder in the tank is bad or the air pressure in the tank is wrong, the pump ought to supply some water.

Can you tell if the pump is running? Stoping and starting frequently.

You should provide the model # of the pump so someone here with knowledge of these things has some more information.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[ericbar]

alternety

There is not a filter before the tank. I don't think that there is water in the tank because I knock on it and it sounds empty. I am not sure what I am looking for when you say contacts, but if they are the only possible thing that could move on the switch then they are open because they are not touching what is across from them(where the wires are attached). The pressure gauge remains the same unless I run the water, but then only drops by one. So if it is on 50, it will drop to 49. I can get it to drop to 30 if I leave the faucets on after the water runs all out, but it won't switch on to build it back up. Before this problem it would have switched on by that point. If the gauge reads around 30 and I tap on the box covering the switch it will sometimes click on and build up the pressure, but it won't do it on its own. The model number of the pump is T1BS4521-S2. Thanks in advance for anyone's help. Thank you too, alternety.

 

[Cass]

You could have a bad pressure switch or the 1/4" tube going to it could be clogged. I would start by checking them first.

 

[ericbar]

Cass

How do I check them? I don't know a whole lot about this, but we really can't afford a major repair. I hope it is only the switch or a clog and that I would be able to do it. Thanks for your help.

 

[Alternety]

The contacts are the little round pieces of metal on the end of the arm that moves, and the matching set on a fixed support.

Rather sounds like you have a bad pressure switch. If you can push the contacts together and the pump works properly, that is a problem. Just use an insulator to push on the arm that has the movable contacts. Don't let it jitter on and off. Bad for the pump.

If that works you want to relieve pressure in the system and remove the switch. Turn off power at the breaker. Remember the dieing part. Best to check with a meter to be sure that the breaker you turn off is the right one. Disconnect the wires. Remember where things went. You unscrew the switch assembly from the pipe it is attached to. Check to see if there is some sort of crap in there. If there is a chunk of something, you may get it to work by cleaning out the inside of the switch. The switches are relatively inexpensive.

To replace the switch, take it to a plumbing supply or tell them the make and model. The two important parameters are the on/off pressure and the type of fitting that it is mounted on. There are also normally open and normally closed switches but yours is most likely one that is open when not trying to run the pump. A big box store may have one.

I do not understand why the pressure would not go to zero when you leave a faucet on. There may also be something else going on between the tank and the rest of the house. Or the pressure Gage is wrong. If you let water run until water stops running, the tank should be at zero pressure. Could be clogged pipes from hard water; rusting galvanized pipe, filter, water softener, water devils cavorting in your pipes, etc.

 

[ericbar]

Pressure Gauge

I don't think the pressure gauge works properly because I just ran all the water out of the faucets and it was still reading at 40, which is more than the 30 it was going down to earlier. Guess I'll need a pressure gauge too. Thanks again. I will post back to let you know the end results. Take care.

 

[Mr_Pike]

Do you have a water softener?

Is there a drain valve somewhere in your water room area? Try opening that and see if you have the same trickle.

 

[Rancher]

I don't think the pressure gauge works properly because I just ran all the water out of the faucets and it was still reading at 40, which is more than the 30 it was going down to earlier. Guess I'll need a pressure gauge too. Thanks again. I will post back to let you know the end results. Take care.

You have a clog in the tubing going to your pressure switch and pressure gauge.

Rancher

 

[ericbar]

Found out what it was.

It turned out that my filter was soooo clogged that it finally would not let any water pass through it. Thanks for everyone's help.