PLEASE HELP Well control box making rattling

[Shelby Tonti]

Hello,
I have both public and well water. I just purchased the home and the water lines don't make sense. The public lines run into the home straight to the softener then out to the home. The well comes in and runs on the same pipes into the softener. I don't want the well running into the home so I turned off the bridge to the softener. If you follow the pipes it SHOULD run to the two facets that I need the well to run. I have also blocked the public running into the softener because it has bad smelling water coming from it. Everything was running fine until yesterday. When I flipped on the well as instructed by the seller, the control box started making crazy sounds and the psi kept bouncing from 20 to 25 to 10 to 20 to 10 and so in. This is the first time I tried to run the well with out the softener and keeping that bridge closed so the well did not mix with the public water. I panicked and cut the breaker. Today I decided to see if it was still making these noises. I flipped the breaker on the control box immediately began to rattle. I flipped on the well pump and opened the valve to the air tank (air tank makes the correct noise when knocked on). It made a back fire noise and the psi were at zero and now at 20 and I shut the system off from the breaker. I have shut it down again from the breaker and I am afraid to touch it.
Any ideas?
As for the softener, does it just need flushed out? The house was empty for 2 years so I'm guessing that it is from stagnet water.
Why they have both systems running into the softener just got me puzzled. I am thinking I will at the least need to add more lines for the public water.

 

[Reach4]

I have not tried to follow the pipes a this point.

The box making the sound -- is that the control box that says FW, or is it the smaller Square-D pressure switch? If it is the pressure switch, you would be looking at the blue pressure tank. You would set the air precharge, and if you found the pressure tank was waterlogged, you would replace the pressure tank.

The blue pressure tank would normally be installed with a drain faucet where you could drain out sediment.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Shelby Tonti]

I have not tried to follow the pipes a this point.

The box making the sound -- is that the control box that says FW, or is it the smaller Square-D pressure switch? If it is the pressure switch, you would be looking at the blue pressure tank. You would set the air precharge, and if you found the pressure tank was waterlogged, you would replace the pressure tank.

The blue pressure tank would normally be installed with a drain faucet where you could drain out sediment.

The sound is from the box that states FW and the psi gauge. The tank is not water logged. To be honest I don't think that it ever stores water. It is always light and has the correct ting sound.

 

[Reach4]

The sound is from the box that states FW and the psi gauge.

I was looking for the PSI pressure gauge in your photos. I thought I saw it just behind the pressure switch. To distinguish where the sound is coming from, try feeling the pieces while the sound is being generated.

If the sound is found to be from the control box, you should maybe replace the control box. The start capacitor inside the box goes bad predictably with time and starts. So you could replace the capacitor. But a new control box would replace the capacitor and other things too. The problem can't just be the capacitor, since the pump motor obviously started. Lacking other symptoms, replacing just the capacitor could make sense. But if the box is making noise, the noise causing problem could be from a different part of the box. I am not a pro, and I have no experience with well pump control boxes.

 

[Valveman]

Take the cover off the pressure switch so you can see if the points are clicking open and closed while making the noise. It looks like there is a pipe connecting the white pipe from the well to the copper that doesn't have a cut off. Plus your pressure switch is too far from the inlet to the pressure tank. I think you are bouncing the pressure switch, which is making the noise from the control box.

 

[Reach4]

Take the cover off the pressure switch so you can see if the points are clicking open and closed while making the noise. It looks like there is a pipe connecting the white pipe from the well to the copper that doesn't have a cut off. Plus your pressure switch is too far from the inlet to the pressure tank. I think you are bouncing the pressure switch, which is making the noise from the control box.

And related, if sediment has accumulated at the bottom of the pipe to the pressure tank, that would further isolate the pressure switch from the pressure tank.

 

[Shelby Tonti]

Wow you all have me lost, SF in a whole new world here. I decided to be a daredevil last night and I flipped it on. The rattle and booming (boom sounded more like in the pipes not the box) in the control box stopped only the psi gage continued to go like a winding clock then a click when pressure dropped over and over but getting less and less frequently.

Yes there is a 2nd cooper pipe running next to the main well line. Not sure why tho. I believe it runs to the hose outside and I am not sure I can run public water thru it or if it's well exclusive. In order for the well to run, the green knob connect to it as well as the bridge (grey) needs turned on, but I have to shut the red bridge down next to the softener so that well doesn't run into the house. Up until now the well was cleaner and had better pressure than the public water, but I don't use it based on city laws but only for outside work, fill the fish tank, hot tub and such...and tis the season for that...

There are 3 faucets that run to the well directly the hose outside, one on the utility tub and another in the garage, but they all crisscross the public in a way I feel is not safe but I am also pretty under knowledgeable with all this....don't let me start on the septic lol

What would cause the softener to begin running sulfur smelling water just all of a sudden? I had City running into it, up until Sunday.

 

[DonL]

What would cause the softener to begin running sulfur smelling water just all of a sudden? I had City running into it, up until Sunday.

Around here you are not allowed to connect both water sources together.

Is the smell in your cold and hot water. Or just hot ?

Take the cover off the pressure switch so you can see if the points are clicking open and closed while making the noise. It looks like there is a pipe connecting the white pipe from the well to the copper that doesn't have a cut off. Plus your pressure switch is too far from the inlet to the pressure tank. I think you are bouncing the pressure switch, which is making the noise from the control box.

10-4

 

[rickey0]

You are an expert. I wanna see more posting of you.