Scala 2 Pump issues

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Jeremy Stempka

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Hey everyone,
new to the site but found some good info on here for a project I helped my father in law with last weekend. They have a low capacity/low recharge well they have been dealing with for 20+ years. We just installed two 300 gallon tanks in the basement which are filled from the well with a large pressure tank (previously had that) at a rate of 1/2 gallon a minute. The scala 2 pump receives water from the bottom of the tanks and feeds the rest of the house including boiler. I did quite a bit of research prior and saw that the Scala 2 pump had mixed reviews. However, the father in law wanted to go with that pump and here we are. After hooking the pump up it worked for 2 days without any issue. Now, the pump has been cycling every 3-4 minutes when water is not being used and eventually leads to a leak in the system warning light. We have been going through the house shutting off valves to fixtures to pin point a leaking fixture that may be causing the issue but have not found one. We also took the valves out of the pump to make sure there were no debris keeping the valve open. The manual also says to check the internal pressure of the pump and make sure it is set at 70% of the outflow pressure. I have seen that on this forum as well, but cannot find info anywhere on the web or in the manual how to actually do that. Can anyone offer any help? A few other things. we shut the water off after the pump and it eliminates the cycling which leads me to think that there is a small leak somewhere. We do not have a check valve from the tank or after the pump. One interesting thing, when I originally hooked the tank up to the pump no water came through intake valve on the pump. I still had to prime the pump by pouring water in it even though the water should have been flowing from the tank. After taking the valves out and hooking the pump back up to the tanks, water flowed into the pump through the valve and I did not have to prime it . Should a check valve be added between the pump and the tank. Would it be possible to lose pressure on that end of the pump causing the cycling? If so, I would have expected it to continually cycle after shutting the valve after the pump.
Thanks!
 

Jeremy Stempka

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I have it narrowed down to the first tank on the water softener system. Anyone know how this could cause the pump to cycle if no visible water is leaking from it?
 

LLigetfa

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Have you checked if the softener is running water to the drain? That might not be visible unless you look at the end of the drain line which could be hidden in an air gap fitting.
 

Valveman

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You have bought into a Tar Baby. Got to be the worst pump on the market. But they make is sound really good don't they? You need to find the leak, which could be the check valve, but a better pump, like a regular jet pump with at least a 4.5 gallon size tank, which only holds 1 gallon of water is needed. That little dinky tank built into a Scala won't hold a teaspoon of water.
 

Jeremy Stempka

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Have you checked if the softener is running water to the drain? That might not be visible unless you look at the end of the drain line which could be hidden in an air gap fitting.

Not Yet, I will check today and get back. Thanks for the lead.
 

Jeremy Stempka

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Looks like a valve may have been stuck on the water softener causing water to slowly drain. thanks for the tip.
 

Valveman

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Looks like a valve may have been stuck on the water softener causing water to slowly drain. thanks for the tip.

Glad you got it fixed. But with a good pump control system there shouldn't be any flow rate leaking or being used that would hurt the pump. Scala is a good pump to learn on. I predict you will soon understand what I am talking about. :)
 
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