Pressure Tank only gets up to 20 PSI

[JHATCH_VT]

We're having problems with our water. Last weekend we drained our artesian well. within two days the water came back and for 3 days the water was fine. we still have water in the well, I've done a static test and it's about 30 feet down in a 400 ft well. We can't get the pressure to go over 20 PSI. We've changed the pressure switch thinking that might be the problem and no luck. Any ideas?? Both the pump in the well and the expansion tank were replaced 3 years ago when the pump was struck by lightning. Pump is a Goulds submersible and the expansion tank is a Well X Trol WX202

 

[Cacher_Chick]

How do you "drain" an artesian well?

Is the pump running and unable to achieve more than 20psi or does it turn off?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

YOu have a "well", not an artesian well. An artesian well overflows onto the ground and you have to cap/seal it to keep the water in. If the pressure only reaches 20 psi, AND the pump keeps running, then that is all the pressure the pump is capable of producing, meaning it has become defective for some reason, usually because it is worn out. The tank does NOTHING to increase pressure, and the switch just turns the pump off when the pressure reaches its setting. Unless you are mistating the problem, neither of them is causing your problem.

 

[JHATCH_VT]

YOu have a "well", not an artesian well. An artesian well overflows onto the ground and you have to cap/seal it to keep the water in. If the pressure only reaches 20 psi, AND the pump keeps running, then that is all the pressure the pump is capable of producing, meaning it has become defective for some reason, usually because it is worn out. The tank does NOTHING to increase pressure, and the switch just turns the pump off when the pressure reaches its setting. Unless you are mistating the problem, neither of them is causing your problem.

I assure you I have an artesian well. It goes 400 feet into the ground and it is capped off to keep the water in. THe pump is submerged into the ground 300 feet. we have an expansion tank in the basement. The pressure reading in the basement is 20 PSI. if you leave everything on, pump in the well and manually turn on the pressure switch, water will continually flow but it never gets above 20 PSI. we normally have about 65 PSI. We're replacing the check valve and cleaning out some pipes in hopes that something got clogged with sediment when we drained the artesian well last weekend.

 

[Shacko]

I got the same problem as hj, how do you drain an artesian well?

 

[JHATCH_VT]

I got the same problem as hj, how do you drain an artesian well?

the well is not drained anymore. we used more water then we should have, the water is back now. the problem is the pressure.

 

[Jadnashua]

If the pump continued to try to run when it was no longer submerged, you've ruined the pump...you need to rebuild or replace it. That kind of pump relies on the water going through it to both cool it and to lubricate the bearings. There are control switches that would stop the pump from running if it got into that situation, and it sounds like you should consider it.

If water doesn't fill the hole to the top and run out on it's own (whether onto the ground, or into the house supply tank), it probably isn't an artesian well. As stated, an artesian well is essentially like a spring...water flows out of it with no auxillary power (i.e., your pump). You said the water is normally 30' below...if it was an artesian well, water would be at the top, and probably leaking out like a spring on the hillside.

 

[JHATCH_VT]

the pump didn't continue to run when it was no longer submerged. when we realized there was a problem, we shut it off. we had an electrician here and he checked the pump and said it was giving off whatever a working one would. when the water came back, we turned the pump back on and everything functioned fine for 3 days, now nothing. we've checked the pressure on the bladder and that is fine, we are now changing the check valve. otherwise, i guess we have a hole in a line somewhere.

 

[hj]

YOU are guessing. The tank's bladder does nothing to the pressure, it only determines HOW MUCH water you can use before the pump starts again. IF the pump runs, but does not produce over 20 psi, then it is either a pump problem or a massive leak which is draining water as fast as the pump produces it, but in that case the pressure would NOT stabilize at 20 psi. It is more likely that the pump can only produce the 20 psi, and that also has nothing to do with the check valve.

 

[Cacher_Chick]

If the pump ran for more than a couple of minutes with no water it might be damaged. If the pump is ok then you have a leak which is most likely in the drop pipe going down the well OR in the line running between the well and the house.

 

[Jadnashua]

the pump didn't continue to run when it was no longer submerged. when we realized there was a problem, we shut it off. /QUOTE]

A minute or two can be enough to damage a pump if it ran with no water going through it. Unless you have a leak between the pump and the house, it's almost certainly the pump. Keep in mind that depending on the use volume, the pump could have been running awhile before the pressure tank was emptied, so it could have been many minutes before you noticed the loss of pressure and volume.