Replaced well pump and tank, possible pipe leak?

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jet18357

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Need a clamp on amp meter can purchase one for under $25. With max water flow that amp draw a constant at a certain water pressure. Then dead head the pump ( valve system off, either jump out pressure switch or disconnect the line and plug it, for less that a minute, amp draw and gauge pressure). That is the performance of the pump. If you have the brand and model of pump. By running pump dry will cause the pump from not pumping because the shaft seal has failed.
Well crap I have 2 flukes with amp meters at work, never thought to check that. It's a new everbilt pump from home depot, only place by me open on Saturdays when it went up. Let me ask this is it possible the wire is heating up? It's old stranded copper out from the house and normal well wire down the well. Sorry if it seems like I'm asking a bunch of stupid questions just trying to narrow it down but might end up having to call a pro.
 

jet18357

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Let me also throw another wrench into this one, when I replaced the pump the 1" barb fitting to the pitless adapter was galvanized and so rusty it was probably half or less of its original size inside. I think its safe to say it wasn't the original pump by the looks of it but I'm assuming the pitless wasn't replaced when the old pump was so I'm thinking that fitting probably looks the same or worse. Would this factor into anything?

Also thinking about it could it be the fact it's only the 2 hot wires no ground running from the house to the case. The ground they have running to the pump is just draped over the edge of the case. In my line of work grounds are most important, seems strange to me not to have 2 hots and a ground.
 
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Reach4

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Also thinking about it could it be the fact it's only the 2 hot wires no ground running from the house to the case. The ground they have running to the pump is just draped over the edge of the case. In my line of work grounds are most important, seems strange to me not to have 2 hots and a ground.
There was a time when that was the norm. I choose to interpret that as wells put in while that was acceptable are grandfathered.
 

jet18357

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So a friend came over and we did some testing and determined it's most likely a recovery issue. We didn't do the bucket test exactly. When running the hose it wouldn't build pressure would run for roughly 10 minutes wides open and then the pump was still drawing 5 amps but lost pressure. It wasn't long for pressure to build back up but it did not have enough water to run the hose for any length of time. The same friend has a springhouse for his water and checked it today for the first time in a while and said it was extremely low. I checked the county map and we are in on the borderline of moderate to severe drought.
 

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So a friend came over and we did some testing and determined it's most likely a recovery issue. We didn't do the bucket test exactly. When running the hose it wouldn't build pressure would run for roughly 10 minutes wides open and then the pump was still drawing 5 amps but lost pressure. It wasn't long for pressure to build back up but it did not have enough water to run the hose for any length of time. The same friend has a springhouse for his water and checked it today for the first time in a while and said it was extremely low. I checked the county map and we are in on the borderline of moderate to severe drought.
When you "lost pressure" the amps should have dropped from 5 to about 3. But yeah the well is not producing as much as the pump can make.
 

jet18357

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When you "lost pressure" the amps should have dropped from 5 to about 3. But yeah the well is not producing as much as the pump can make.
That's what I was afraid of. Any recommendations on what I can do to help for the time being? We've been getting some rain and snow but I still don't think it's enough to get us out of this drought.
 

Reach4

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That's what I was afraid of. Any recommendations on what I can do to help for the time being? We've been getting some rain and snow but I still don't think it's enough to get us out of this drought.
You can put on a device that shuts down the pump for a settable interval when you run out of water.

You can get wet in the shower, turn off/down the shower, lather up, turn the water back on/up to rinse. Or just space out your water-using activities. You probably don't need the full bit. https://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Navy-Shower

You can try lower water-use setting on the washing machine until you know what the well can do.

Longer term, you could consider a deeper well, or have a tank in the basement that gets filled by the well pump. Then household use would get water from the tank via a pressure pump to feed the house.
 

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Even if a well only makes 1 GPM that is 1440 gallons a day. You just need a way to store it so it can be used at any rate needed. If the well doesn't have any storage (depth) you can use a cistern. Restricting the well pump with a ball valve to 1 to 3 GPM will keep it from pumping the well dry while filling the cistern. With a cistern full of water and a booster pump you can have pressure like any 5 star hotel. Probably also need a Cycle Sensor on the well pump to protect it in case the well does pump dry over time.

Cistern Storage Tank with JET Booster Pump (12).png
Cistern Storage Tank with Submersible Booster Pump .png

 

jet18357

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@Valveman and @Reach4 thank you guys for the help. I'm hoping the water table comes up, I think the 40/60 switch with the low pressure cutoff, coupled with a bad air pressure gauage on my part is the reason it was shutting the pump off when she would do laundry. It wasn't running out of water i think I had the tank pressure set to low when I set it.
 

jet18357

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@Valveman and @Reach4 i am getting ready to install an outside frost free hydrant and a cattle drinker. I don't really need any kind of high flow for either of them. Would it help to put a flow restrictor ahead of them? I figure it will give the well a better chance to keep up. The drinker only holds 8 gallons and the hydrant will just be used to fill a pig waterer through part of the year.
 

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Won't need a flow restrictor. The nozzle on the drinker will only allow so much flow, and what ever sprinkler or hand wand you put on the hose will restrict the hydrant.

When the pump runs out of water it gets hot and trips the internal overload. This leaves you out of water for a minute or so while the overload cools down and automatically resets and water magically comes back on.
 

jet18357

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Won't need a flow restrictor. The nozzle on the drinker will only allow so much flow, and what ever sprinkler or hand wand you put on the hose will restrict the hydrant.

When the pump runs out of water it gets hot and trips the internal overload. This leaves you out of water for a minute or so while the overload cools down and automatically resets and water magically comes back on.
Thanks, its probably not really as bad as it all sounds. Taking into consideration that theirs 6 of us we just need to time things better I believe for a while. It never runs out during showers, etc.... unless someone doesn't notice and tries to do laundry or something like that.
 
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