Jet Pump Problem -

[RogerPDX]

I'm at a friends house in Mexico for a while. They have a pressure tank with an AquaPak Pet PET13 / 1127 Jet Pump 1.3 hp bolted to the top of the pressure tank. There is an Evans AB-TMSP Compact Pressure Switch attached to the jet pump. The jet pump sucks water up from a 60' hole in the ground (well).

Here's the problem, when running hose off a bib that this setup feeds, if the hose is open fully, it pumps like normal. If you hold your thumb over the end of the hose, restricting the flow, the pump bounces up and down on the pressure tank like a bucking bronco.

Can anybody please explain to me why this is happening and how to remedy it?

 

[WorthFlorida]

The tank needs to be properly pressurized or the bladder inside the tank has a leak. It happens with the hose because as you turn it off the hose nozzle, the hose expands slightly and the pressure switch shuts it down. But without any air in the tank to pressurize it, it immediately loses pressure below the low pressure setting and the pump turns on.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[RogerPDX]

The tank needs to be properly pressurized or the bladder inside the tank has a leak. It happens with the hose because as you turn it off the hose nozzle, the hose expands slightly and the pressure switch shuts it down. But without any air in the tank to pressurize it, it immediately loses pressure below the low pressure setting and the pump turns on.

So is the jet pump, pumping directly out of the well and by passing the pressure tank altogether?

How much pressure should be in that pressure tank?

 

[Reach4]

How much pressure should be in that pressure tank?

About 5 psi lower than the cut-in pressure. Air precharge is always measured or set with zero water pressure.

 

[RogerPDX]

Ok. Thanks. I'll tell my friend. Hope he can find someone around here that understands how to pressurize the tank!

 

[RogerPDX]

Reach4 - I forgot to ask, would the bladder tank have water in it, as it stands, if it had not been pressurized correctly prior to hooking it up to the pump? If it does have water in it, how do you get the water out of it (zero water pressure) so the repairman can pressurize the tank?

 

[Reach4]

Reach4 - I forgot to ask, would the bladder tank have water in it, as it stands, if it had not been pressurized correctly prior to hooking it up to the pump? If it does have water in it, how do you get the water out of it (zero water pressure) so the repairman can pressurize the tank?

Turn off the pump and open a faucet.

Note that the precharged pressure tanks can fail. It is not uncommon. The better tanks have a diaphragm instead of a bladder.

 

[RogerPDX]

Thanks very much!