Geoffrey Gee
New Member
Cary, thank you very much, this is very much appreciated.
Deep well system problem.
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Geoffrey Gee
New Member
Hi Everybody.
Up to now we have been trouble free, until about 3 weeks ago, pump just running and running, and tank only about half full, I tried everything nothing worked, then my wife, bless her sole, knows everything, "the tank needs cleaning" which of course it did not, however to keep her happy I opened the drain valve, and guess what, the tank was basically empty !!!! and clean.
Still no further forward, but I could not understand why, so I shut the valve, switch the pump back on, straight away it fills up, system works great no more problems, well not for about 3 weeks, then same again, so I check tank pressure gauge shows approx 20PSI so the tank is almost empty, let the tank drain till it is completely empty and switch pump back on and again straight away fills in seconds, no problems, but now it has done the same 2 more times.
As an engineer I realized what I think is the problem, air pressure in the tank is greater than the water pressure.
Water pressure shut off is set at 40psi, no air valve on tank. I have bleed the system each time.
WHY??? no leaks any where, tank is about 24 months old, pump is about 6 months old, basically a new home.
Any advise would be very welcome.
Up to now we have been trouble free, until about 3 weeks ago, pump just running and running, and tank only about half full, I tried everything nothing worked, then my wife, bless her sole, knows everything, "the tank needs cleaning" which of course it did not, however to keep her happy I opened the drain valve, and guess what, the tank was basically empty !!!! and clean.
Still no further forward, but I could not understand why, so I shut the valve, switch the pump back on, straight away it fills up, system works great no more problems, well not for about 3 weeks, then same again, so I check tank pressure gauge shows approx 20PSI so the tank is almost empty, let the tank drain till it is completely empty and switch pump back on and again straight away fills in seconds, no problems, but now it has done the same 2 more times.
As an engineer I realized what I think is the problem, air pressure in the tank is greater than the water pressure.
Water pressure shut off is set at 40psi, no air valve on tank. I have bleed the system each time.
WHY??? no leaks any where, tank is about 24 months old, pump is about 6 months old, basically a new home.
Any advise would be very welcome.
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Suppose you have a precharged pressure tank with a diaphragm. Suppose you started with 18 psi air precharge with zero water pressure. If there is a small hole in the diaphragm, water pushes in slowly. Takes up space that should just be air.
On a good tank, when you drop the water pressure to zero, the tank should be empty of water. It will be light. It will sound hollow when you knock on it. If there is water on the wrong side of the diaphragm, the tank will be heavy when the water pressure is zero. Depending on the tank, knocking on the lower part of the tank may not sound hollow. Do these symptoms match your pressure tank?
If the pump is just running and running and will not build up to 60 and shut off, you are most likely pumping the well dry and losing prime. Shutting the pump off, even for a few seconds lets its the well recover and the pump burp and prime. Check the amps when this is happening as they will drop considerably when pumping air. The Cycle Sensor reads amps and shuts the pump off when the well is dry to protect your pump.
Geoffrey Gee
New Member
Sorry for late reply, this is a steel pressure tank, but I don't think it has a diaphragm, when the tank is empty it is light, hollow all the way up, but still the same problem but getting worse, before empty tank completely, fill back up it would last a few days before the problem reappeared, now its only a matter of hours, and it has started to oscillating, off and on, up to max pressure then off and back on again, drain the tank, or, just open one of the inlets like the pipe to the pressure gauge, just unscrew it till water runs out under pressure, then usually it stops oscillating.
Geoffrey Gee
New Member
Hi thanks sorry late reply don't have a Cycle Sensor, I dont think the well is running dry, but at the moment no way of knowing, problem still with me and getting worse, dont even need to drain the tank, shut the valve off from pump to tank, and slowly open the valve with pump running and it shoots up to max pressure and holds it, then after a few hours, of usage, it will all of a sudden stop pumping and pump makes a different sound, close the valve slightly till noise is different and watch the gauge jump up to max pressure.
You don't have a back pressure valve, which is needed for a two pipe jet pump. You can use the ball valve between the pump and tank to hold back pressure on the ejector down hole. I know it sounds funny, but closing that valve partially will cause enough back pressure to make the pump produce more pressure.
Geoffrey Gee
New Member
Hi all, everything I tried previously didn't work, so I tried to bleed the system, I could not bleed the system yesterday, the more water I put down the pipe, just varnished, so this morning pull the inner pipe from the well, and the problem was obvious !!!! the valve on the end of the pipe ( one pipe system ) with a holding screw that keeps the filter in place, had broken, allowing the valve its self to float around, some times I guess it seated, and the well was ok, but yesterday it just gave up.
So new valve and housing complete, with those 2 leather washers, you cant buy pieces here in the Philippines, which sucks, all I need was the valve and the screw.
Anyway thanks a million everybody who answered my request.
So new valve and housing complete, with those 2 leather washers, you cant buy pieces here in the Philippines, which sucks, all I need was the valve and the screw.
Anyway thanks a million everybody who answered my request.
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