Greetings
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to be as descriptive as possible.
Was taking a shower Wednesday night and all of a sudden the water cut off -no water coming out of the shower head.
I quickly turned the shower valve off, dried off and went into the garage, which is where the pressure tank and 2 year-old Franklin Electric 1/2hp jet pump are located.
From the time the water cut off in the shower to when I turned the jet pump off, maybe 4-5 minutes went by, so I don’t think any damage was done there.
I checked the base of the pressure tank to see if any leakage: none.
Then turned my attention to the pump. It was running & not making its normal operating noise- it was much quieter. I turned it off & called it a night.
The next day-
I turned the pump on again and the same quiet noise. I pulled the prime plug and looked in the inlet chamber and it was dry. I primed it a few times & started the jp to see if I could resuscitate it, but no luck- would just suck the chamber dry.
Friday, a plumber I’ve used before came out.
About a year ago, in the well pit, I replaced an old leaking gate valve with a shark bite ball valve.
I told the plumber about this & he said sometimes Sharkbite products do not work well on the suction side of a jet pump system(air suction).Also, I live in a cold climate and it’s been in the single digits and even minus in the last week or so, so maybe shark bites don’t do well in colder temps.
The plumber replaced the ball valve and I also had him blowout w/comp. air the line between the cistern and the jet pump, as there was some blockage in there a year or so ago. Both ends of the pipe were disconnected from the cistern and the jet pump. FWIW, the cistern is 4 to 6 feet higher than the jet pump ,so there’s gravity.
After the plumber replaced the shark bite ball valve with a regular valve, primed the jet pump a few times, the system was back to working. Cycled/emptied the pressure tank a few times to make sure things were working properly and figured that was it -problem solved.
Took a shower Saturday night , again no problem. Was out in the garage that night and the system was not cycling; everything seemed normal.
Went out to the garage this Sunday morning , and the jet pump was on( system cycled on from using water that morning ) but it didn’t sound right, not the quiet I described before, but not the regular noise when it’s running properly. I felt the motor side of the pump case and it was warm, & put an infrared heat gun to it and it was about 82°. The pressure gauge on the discharge tube was not showing a reading.
I turned the jet pump off, pulled the priming plug & the chamber is dry.
Seems I’m at where I was originally.
I’m thinking maybe the pump is/was the problem all along & maybe the impeller/shaft or something else internal is suspect (would randomly work as it should) & has rendered the jet pump kaput & needs to be replaced.
Am I on the right track?
Any thoughts or inputs are greatly appreciated from the group.
Ty very much.
Sorry for the long post, but wanted to be as descriptive as possible.
Was taking a shower Wednesday night and all of a sudden the water cut off -no water coming out of the shower head.
I quickly turned the shower valve off, dried off and went into the garage, which is where the pressure tank and 2 year-old Franklin Electric 1/2hp jet pump are located.
From the time the water cut off in the shower to when I turned the jet pump off, maybe 4-5 minutes went by, so I don’t think any damage was done there.
I checked the base of the pressure tank to see if any leakage: none.
Then turned my attention to the pump. It was running & not making its normal operating noise- it was much quieter. I turned it off & called it a night.
The next day-
I turned the pump on again and the same quiet noise. I pulled the prime plug and looked in the inlet chamber and it was dry. I primed it a few times & started the jp to see if I could resuscitate it, but no luck- would just suck the chamber dry.
Friday, a plumber I’ve used before came out.
About a year ago, in the well pit, I replaced an old leaking gate valve with a shark bite ball valve.
I told the plumber about this & he said sometimes Sharkbite products do not work well on the suction side of a jet pump system(air suction).Also, I live in a cold climate and it’s been in the single digits and even minus in the last week or so, so maybe shark bites don’t do well in colder temps.
The plumber replaced the ball valve and I also had him blowout w/comp. air the line between the cistern and the jet pump, as there was some blockage in there a year or so ago. Both ends of the pipe were disconnected from the cistern and the jet pump. FWIW, the cistern is 4 to 6 feet higher than the jet pump ,so there’s gravity.
After the plumber replaced the shark bite ball valve with a regular valve, primed the jet pump a few times, the system was back to working. Cycled/emptied the pressure tank a few times to make sure things were working properly and figured that was it -problem solved.
Took a shower Saturday night , again no problem. Was out in the garage that night and the system was not cycling; everything seemed normal.
Went out to the garage this Sunday morning , and the jet pump was on( system cycled on from using water that morning ) but it didn’t sound right, not the quiet I described before, but not the regular noise when it’s running properly. I felt the motor side of the pump case and it was warm, & put an infrared heat gun to it and it was about 82°. The pressure gauge on the discharge tube was not showing a reading.
I turned the jet pump off, pulled the priming plug & the chamber is dry.
Seems I’m at where I was originally.
I’m thinking maybe the pump is/was the problem all along & maybe the impeller/shaft or something else internal is suspect (would randomly work as it should) & has rendered the jet pump kaput & needs to be replaced.
Am I on the right track?
Any thoughts or inputs are greatly appreciated from the group.
Ty very much.
