Water Pressure Inconsistent After Shutting Off Pump

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chrislast

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We had a well drilled about a year ago in a place we bought. Bore hole is 300' in limestone with water refilling the hole at the 200' and 100' mark. As told by the driller, we always turned off the breaker to the pump during storms or if we were going to be away for more than a couple of days (in case of storms while we were gone) so that if the home were hit by lightning, it wouldn't fry the pump.

Now, after restarting the pump, the water will run at normal pressure for a few minutes and then mysteriously drop to a trickle and/or none at all. I don't believe the water level is the problem. In these cases, we have lived there for 2-3 weeks, washing clothes, showering, cooking, etc. with no drop in pressure.

This only happens after the pump has been shut off for several hours and then restarted. Then it usually returns to normal after going through several of these pressure drop offs. Any ideas about what it could be?
 

Sammyhydro11

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Chris,
is it a submersible pump that you have in your well? Do you hear the pressure switch or pump turning on or off erratically when you turn the power back on?Do you have a cartridge filter on the system?

SAM
 

chrislast

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Yes it is a submersible pump (10 gpm). The pump does not switch on and off as you describe. It runs normally for about 1-2 minutes and then the pressure drops out. It will then return to normal flow for a short period of time and then do the same thing again. It may do this a few times and then suddenly will run normally for days and not do this again until after the pump has been shut off.

The main reason I don't think the water level is dropping below the intake is that this normally happens after the pump has been off for several hours or days when there has been no water usage, when before the pump was shut off, we had been living there and using it for 2-3 weeks with no such problem.

We have no filtration system, but once in a while I have to unhook the hose into the washing machine to remove sediment debris from the filtration screen. It is usually a bluish fine powder that I attribute to the shale layer that the driller went through and from which water enters at the 100' mark. A couple of times I have pulled out a few granules about the size of grain of sand or slightly larger.
 

Speedbump

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It sounds like the pressure switch is not turning the pump on when it should. Or you have an intermittant bad connection somewhere that coincidentally makes it seem as it's only after the pump has been off for a while.

Otherwise you have me stumped.

bob...
 

Hydrohead

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Have you watched your pressure gauge to see what it is doing when your problem occurs? Let us know what the pressure gauge reads when this happens.
 

Sammyhydro11

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I agree with speedbump. You might want to check the contacts of the pressure switch to see if they are worn. If they are worn out i would suspect a bad tank short cycling the pump seeing the short period of time the system has been in. You might also want to check the amp draw on the motor to see if its possibly going into thermal overload causeing the motor to kick out here and there.

SAM
 

chrislast

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Hydrohead said:
Have you watched your pressure gauge to see what it is doing when your problem occurs? Let us know what the pressure gauge reads when this happens.
The gauge drops to between 0-5 at the same time the flow rate fizzles out from the shower, faucet, etc. and then jumps back up to around 40 when normal flow restores. The driller came out today and he checked things out and does not believe that there is a problem with the pump or pressure switch and that the problem is that the water level in the well is low.

My wife also discovered about that time that the toilet was running and not shutting off. The yield on this well was about 2 gpm when it was drilled a little over a year ago which is pretty good for the mountain we live on. The driller believes that could be the problem. That makes sense, especially since when we've restarted the pump after having it shut off for a few hours or days it's always been at night before we went to bed. The pressure then drops out the next morning when people start showering, etc. If the toilet were running all night unnoticed, then that might empty the bore hole. What do you all think?

Unfortunately, I'm not there right now. My wife is and I'm getting all of this from her on the phone although I was there once when this happened a couple of weeks ago.
 

Markts30

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Although I know next to nothing about pumps and wells.... It might be that the contacts are corroding in your systema dn the first time you use it after it has been off for a while, it takes a few on and off cycles for the corrosion to "burn off" and for the contact to operate right...
As I say, I and not a pump pro - just my own 2 cents...
 

Sammyhydro11

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Chris,
it sounds like low production could be your problem, but did the driller drop a water level meter down the well to confirm this? If not you need him to come back and further investigate so you know what you are up against.I'll bet if you fix the toilet all will be back to normal as long as you all use the same amount of water as you did in the past.

SAM
 

Speedbump

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I agree with Sammy, you should have told us about the toilet in the first place. You said:
I don't believe the water level is the problem. In these cases, we have lived there for 2-3 weeks, washing clothes, showering, cooking, etc. with no drop in pressure.

This only happens after the pump has been shut off for several hours and then restarted. Then it usually returns to normal after going through several of these pressure drop offs. Any ideas about what it could be?

Then you said later that the well only delivers 2 gpm. That kind of speaks volumns.

bob...
 

chrislast

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speedbump said:
I agree with Sammy, you should have told us about the toilet in the first place. You said:


Then you said later that the well only delivers 2 gpm. That kind of speaks volumns.

bob...

Sorry, but I thought I had included the yield in the first post--had intended to anyway. I didn't know about the toilet until the driller came out and checked over things. That's when my wife discovered that part of the equation. Thanks to all for all of the help.

On a follow-up, now that the toilet is fixed, the water has been fine.
 
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