2 Line Jet pump losing pressure all at once

[Timothy A Wilson]

80ft well from casing cover to bottom. 50 ft to water lever and another 30 of actuall water. 6 inch casing. Foot valve hangs 5 ft off bottom.

Issue: Well keeps prime and doesn't cycle unless you use water and run pressure down. Indicating no leaks. Father thought it was a weak pump and wanted it replaced. It's a 2 line pump so we ended up pulling the pipe and replacing with new. New pipe, ejector/jet , and foot valve along with a new pump topside. Currently set to 30/50 was 40/60 which seemed better. We have verified the foot valve does not leak. Turn the pump on and water flows great. Pressure get to around 30 and starts getting iffy then all of a sudden we get nothing to a little trickle and pump shows zero psi. I can turn the faucet off and in about 5 seconds pressure bumps up to 30 psi and builds from there. Cuts off and I have water to do it all over again. So I'm not losing water. I'm at a loss. Pressure tank is is a 20 gallon and 1 year old. Everything replaced and it does basically same thing as before. Help please!

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

Sorry if the post was short and sweet. Internet is horrible here and wanted to get something posted up before I had to retype everything lol. It's never ran out of water inside the house. Showers baths or anything. Just when I have the hose open outside. Assuming my pressure tank has 5 gallons of water.. it acts as it uses that up.. The pressure drops to pump pressure. Stay like that for 10 seconds or so then nothing. I had a single line jet pump in a previous house that would pump for hours non stop if I wanted it to. This 2 minutes and I'm out. But if I turn it off and wait for pump to kick off I can do it all over again. That's why I mentioned I'm not out of water in the well.

 

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[Timothy A Wilson]

My guess is pressure tank is running out of reserve water and pump can't keep up. The place is new. Has this been undersized all these years with previous owner. I'd like to be able to run the hose for an hour. Gardens and such. I don't think it's out of the question..

 

[Valveman]

Size of the pressure tank has nothing to do with it. A larger tank would just be an additional load for the pump. I would verify that I still had 30 feet of water over the foot valve when this happens. Could also be the backpressure valve on the two pipe jet needs adjusting.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

What adjustment does the jet have? The only thing I saw with it was 2 different venturi tubes. One for shallow and one for deep. We're using the deep since the jet is in the casing and not on the front of the pump.

Would a check valve between pump and pressure tank help? Keeping water at the pump at all times?

It's acts as if it loses prime and water stops coming. As soon as I turn the spigot off it jumps back to 30 and starts building pressure. Without having to actually prime it of course.

 

[Valveman]

You need a backpressure regulator on the outlet side of the pump. You have to set it to hold enough backpressure on the jet down hole to make it jet more water up from the well. Most two pipe jets come with a backpressure valve, but some do not.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

Unless it's built into the pump my pump doesn't have one. Outlet from pump is piped straight to tank. Guess I will have to find one somewhere. Good info. No where did it say anything about that..

 

[Reach4]

Unless it's built into the pump my pump doesn't have one. Outlet from pump is piped straight to tank. Guess I will have to find one somewhere. Good info. No where did it say anything about that..

What is the make and model of the pump? Consider posting a photo including the connection to the pressure tank.

See http://littlegiant.com/media/153574/convertible-jet-pumps-shallow-well-owner.pdf page 7 "control valve" for example. See if your pump has a similar thing.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

Just read the manual. " item sold seperatly" lol. I would love to but we don't have high speed out here and ever post I make in usually have to re write 2 or three times because of fail led Internet on my phone. I can remember off the top of my head put it's the Lowes 1hp deep well pump. I'm willing to bet that's my problem. Off to town I go... I'll keep you posted. Thank.you everyone !

 

[Reach4]

I would love to but we don't have high speed out here and ever post I make in usually have to re write 2 or three times because of fail led Internet on my phone

The newer forum software seems to remember where you were. But if that is not the case, try entering your text into something else, such as Notepad. Then copy and paste into a post. Keep Notpad (or whatever) open until the post completes.

I understand what you are saying tho. If you have trouble sending 500 character posts, what chance do you have sending a picture that is 150,000 bytes long.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

Thanks again. That back pressure valve did the trick. One question though on adjustment. I did it with just a water Jose on full blast and got it to keep prime while providing 5 gpm. It ran forever like that. Shut it off and I went in the house to pull strainers and run all the fixtures and I can have almost everything running except when I ran the second tub I lost pressure and assuming prime. Should I adjust the back pressure switch with my house fixtures open? Or leave it as is?

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

I had the kitchen sink , bathroom sink and tub running and went to turn on the second tub.

 

[Valveman]

You may have just opened more faucets than the pump can supply. I would think you would want a good amount of flow going when you set the backpressure valve.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

Yeah I'm just torn. The likelihood of everything being opened at once here with just 2 people is slim to none. It's Mt dad's place and I don't live here. He and the lady are older and can't really be messing with the pump all the time at their age. I don't want them having to pull the well house cover which is heavy and have to reprime every other day. I live states away so I'm hoping I can get it dialed in. My main concern is I never want the water heater to starve. I understand what you mean though by flow and that's what I figured as well. Quicker the pressure tank supply gets replaced. Maybe I just need it to cut on sooner ?

 

[Valveman]

If the footvalve is your only check valve, then you should not lose prime.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

It is and I agree. I may have it just on the border line. I know where it's set now. I'll get in there and go both ways with the back pressure and see if it's any better or worse. If any lol else fails I'll just set it back to where I had it. Again, not many homes have everything opened at once. I just want to be sure before I leave for Texas tomorrow. In Tennessee now

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

I haven't checked the pressure tank yet. I'm assuming it's still at the pre charged 25psi. If I'm kicking on at 38psi that's an issue I need to solve as well. I need to bring it up to 35-36 which will lower the pressure tank volume which should keep pressure longer .

 

[Valveman]

Actually increasing the air charge in the tank will increase the amount of water it can deliver before the pump starts. Need to hit a happy medium with the backpressure valve. Needs to pump adequate volume, but still be able to build pressure to shut off point.

 

[Timothy A Wilson]

I think I hit that happy medium. I'm getting around 4.6 gpm on just the water hose. I was at 5gpm. But I can have every fixture in the house open and still get small streams everywhere. Which is what i wanted. It's easier for my dad to wait if he has to versus having to re prime it . He can't hardly do it and I'm states away. We are both happy with it and are calling this project done.. Thank goodness. Thank you to everyone for helping and dealing with my horrible Internet here. Thanks again !!!

 

[Kevink1955]

Not that I will ever have a well with a 2 pipe jet but I learned something here today. It makes sense that you need to maintain a minimum pressure to the ejector jet to lift the water out of the well. Just never thought of it that way

Valveman, I am sure you made the OP's day with your knowledge of exactly what needed to be done