This has been an all day project since 8:00 this morning, and I'm posting this at 11:00PM. I give up and I'm out of ideas.
The original problem I was trying to fix was that my system was falling all the way to zero psi with about a 10 sec time lag before the pressure switch would cut in and turn the pump on.
After reading lots of the posts on here about this sort of thing, I ended up removing the pressure switch to see if the nipple was clogged. It wasn't clogged, but the water was kind of nasty. I flushed it out and decided to go ahead and replace the switch. It's at least 10 years old and the contacts were pretty fried.
Brought home new 20-40 switch (same as old one) and installed it. The switch wouldn't cut in even after the pressure fell to zero. I could get it to cut in manually, but once started, it wouldn't cut out. It went up to almost 60lbs before I killed the breaker. I have a low pressure system. All the numbers on the pressure gauge are red above 40. I adjusted screw 2 for lower cut out pressure as far as it would go... still won't stop. Called the place I bought switch 1. Tried removing all of it again to make sure it wasn't plugged up. Water in the nipple was clean. "Must be a bad switch. Bring it back."
2nd 40 mile round trip... installed new switch number 2. It's behaving the same way. I would have thought that if they were 20-40 switches they would at least be in the ball park.
The pressure tank is only 3 years old. There's no water coming out of the air valve, and it's set for 18 lbs.
I put a pressure gauge on a yard hydrant to see if the gauge by the pressure switch was way off. It's not.
I do have some sand in my water, but not so bad that the whole house filter can't go 3 months between changes. The water coming out of the nipple is still clean... I've taken this thing apart like 5 times today and I am out of ideas.
At this point it will eventually cut in at some point after the system pressure drops to zero. Sometimes after a few seconds, sometimes after a full minute or two. It isn't cutting out till between 55-60 lbs but that too is inconsistent. I have been killing the breaker at about 58 because I just don't want to risk letting it go any higher than that.
Any suggestions I haven't tried would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and I have a houseful of out of town company arriving tomorrow night. Murphy is running amuck.
Thanks.
The original problem I was trying to fix was that my system was falling all the way to zero psi with about a 10 sec time lag before the pressure switch would cut in and turn the pump on.
After reading lots of the posts on here about this sort of thing, I ended up removing the pressure switch to see if the nipple was clogged. It wasn't clogged, but the water was kind of nasty. I flushed it out and decided to go ahead and replace the switch. It's at least 10 years old and the contacts were pretty fried.
Brought home new 20-40 switch (same as old one) and installed it. The switch wouldn't cut in even after the pressure fell to zero. I could get it to cut in manually, but once started, it wouldn't cut out. It went up to almost 60lbs before I killed the breaker. I have a low pressure system. All the numbers on the pressure gauge are red above 40. I adjusted screw 2 for lower cut out pressure as far as it would go... still won't stop. Called the place I bought switch 1. Tried removing all of it again to make sure it wasn't plugged up. Water in the nipple was clean. "Must be a bad switch. Bring it back."
2nd 40 mile round trip... installed new switch number 2. It's behaving the same way. I would have thought that if they were 20-40 switches they would at least be in the ball park.
The pressure tank is only 3 years old. There's no water coming out of the air valve, and it's set for 18 lbs.
I put a pressure gauge on a yard hydrant to see if the gauge by the pressure switch was way off. It's not.
I do have some sand in my water, but not so bad that the whole house filter can't go 3 months between changes. The water coming out of the nipple is still clean... I've taken this thing apart like 5 times today and I am out of ideas.
At this point it will eventually cut in at some point after the system pressure drops to zero. Sometimes after a few seconds, sometimes after a full minute or two. It isn't cutting out till between 55-60 lbs but that too is inconsistent. I have been killing the breaker at about 58 because I just don't want to risk letting it go any higher than that.
Any suggestions I haven't tried would be greatly appreciated. Oh, and I have a houseful of out of town company arriving tomorrow night. Murphy is running amuck.
Thanks.