Hi,
I just came back from vacation and wanted to use our lake water to do some pressure washing, but found no flow.
I hooked up fresh water to the outlet and primed the pump to 70psi. Normally this is all I have to do when I lose the prime. It did not work this time. Here are the steps I've taken: checked the foot valve - check valve in the lake - okay; checked the check valve next to the pump - okay; opened the pump and checked the impeller - okay; took off the pressure tank and fitted a faucet to the opening - then primed from the top - still did not cause water to be sucked. The distance from the pump to the lake is about 50 feet at an incline of about 30 deg. As I mentioned it worked 3 weeks ago and now it doesn't. Everything I've done in the past does not seem to help. As a last resort I borrowed another pump (2 hp) and installed. Still would not draw water.
The plumbing is 1 1/4" from the pump to the check valve. Then reduced down to 3/4". I know this is small but as I mentioned it did work before. The reason for the 3/4" line is originally the pump was used for a water-to-air heat pump connected to a 1 1/4" line in the 55 ft well. Several years ago the well collapsed and the well company could not guarantee that they could put a well in the same place (I didn't want to have to re-route all electrical-plumbing) so I replaced the unit with an air-to-air electric heat pump.
I was able to clean the well pipe down to 32 ft. I inserted a 3/4" pvc pipe with foot valve-check valve, primed the pump and it worked. After about 6 months I was having problems with clay so I ran a 1 1/4" pvc pipe down to the lake. Primed the pump and it worked fine. Since I already had a 3/4" pvc return pipe (from the water-to-air heat pump buried) going down to the lake I thought I could use it and not have to bury the 1 1/4" pipe, even though I would have a greatly reduced flow. So that's what I did and as I've said it worked!
Any guidance you can give me will be appreciated. Looking forward to hearing back from you. Thanks.
Ski
I just came back from vacation and wanted to use our lake water to do some pressure washing, but found no flow.
I hooked up fresh water to the outlet and primed the pump to 70psi. Normally this is all I have to do when I lose the prime. It did not work this time. Here are the steps I've taken: checked the foot valve - check valve in the lake - okay; checked the check valve next to the pump - okay; opened the pump and checked the impeller - okay; took off the pressure tank and fitted a faucet to the opening - then primed from the top - still did not cause water to be sucked. The distance from the pump to the lake is about 50 feet at an incline of about 30 deg. As I mentioned it worked 3 weeks ago and now it doesn't. Everything I've done in the past does not seem to help. As a last resort I borrowed another pump (2 hp) and installed. Still would not draw water.
The plumbing is 1 1/4" from the pump to the check valve. Then reduced down to 3/4". I know this is small but as I mentioned it did work before. The reason for the 3/4" line is originally the pump was used for a water-to-air heat pump connected to a 1 1/4" line in the 55 ft well. Several years ago the well collapsed and the well company could not guarantee that they could put a well in the same place (I didn't want to have to re-route all electrical-plumbing) so I replaced the unit with an air-to-air electric heat pump.
I was able to clean the well pipe down to 32 ft. I inserted a 3/4" pvc pipe with foot valve-check valve, primed the pump and it worked. After about 6 months I was having problems with clay so I ran a 1 1/4" pvc pipe down to the lake. Primed the pump and it worked fine. Since I already had a 3/4" pvc return pipe (from the water-to-air heat pump buried) going down to the lake I thought I could use it and not have to bury the 1 1/4" pipe, even though I would have a greatly reduced flow. So that's what I did and as I've said it worked!
Any guidance you can give me will be appreciated. Looking forward to hearing back from you. Thanks.
Ski
Last edited: