Submersible pump start often

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thibod

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Hey guys, I have notice lately that my submersible pump has a very short cycle. the pressure is 30/80. when we use the shower, it take about 10 sec to drop to 30psi and then the pump start for about 3 sec to bring the psi to 80 again. there is no lost of pressure if nobody is using water in the house. my well is 100' deep and was told that I was on a good vain. my house is 7 year old. My holding thank is about 10-15 gallon, (fiberglass) was new type 7 years ago. and she appears to be full of water. Does anybody know what could be the cause of this. I have very little knowledge in plumbing.

when we are drawing a bath for the kid and the pump kick's in, the water pressure increase at the faucet as well. which would let me think that there is plenty of water in the well. I am just worried about the short cycle

thanks
 

Reach4

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What do you know about your pump?

My holding thank is about 10-15 gallon, (fiberglass) was new type 7 years ago. and she appears to be full of water.
I expect you are referring to the pressure tank. If so, it would have a valve that is like a tire valve on the top. It was probably undersized from the beginning. While adjusting the precharge could possibly help, if you have a conventional setup, you should probably have a bigger pressure tank anyway. Adding air can work around a failed tank to gain you some time.

Can you post brand and model info for what you have? Do you have space for a bigger pressure tank? Well-X-Trol is the top brand. Not cheap. For longer life, you do want a tank that uses a diaphragm rather than a bladder. You cannot tell by looking.

What you should do is to post pictures of what you see including any control box. Or at least print the names and model of any control box you see. The reason is to see if you might have some kind of constant pressure control system, or if you have a conventional system. A conventional system would have a pressure switch that is roughly a 3 or so inch cube. It might say Pumptrol on the cover, but there are other brands.

30/80 is not at all normal. You might need a new pressure switch, but that is not sure yet. What was the pressure range when the system was working?

How long was the minimum time that the pump ran each time it was on while the system was working? It should be 1 minute or more.
 

Valveman

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30/80 pressure switch setting is what a lot of people do to increase the run time to fill a small tank. The problem is 50 PSI between on and off will over-stretch the bladder in the tank and it will break. Then the tank will be waterlogged and full of water as you describe. When the tank is waterlogged the pump will cycle rapidly as you are describing, and that is not good for the pump. Yes you could use a larger pressure tank if you like. But you can't get a large enough tank to stop pump cycling. The larger the tank the longer the cycles, but it still cycles.

This would be a good time to replace the tank with a Pside-Kick kit. It only needs a 4.5 gallon size tank because the CSV is what eliminates the pump cycling, so you don't need a large tank.

The CSV will hold a steady 50 PSI when you are using water. That will make showers much better than when the shower pressure is going up and down from 30 to 80 and then 80 to 30 over and over. The CSV will hold a steady 50 PSI even if you are in the shower for a month.
 

Ballvalve

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Your pressure tank is defective or waterlogged. If you had 20/150 switch differential, it would still cycle. I have some at 45/80, and if the DIAPHRAGM tank is a good quality, or its a plain tank, you should be within range of a long life. Forget any "bladder" tanks. Primitive design.
 

Valveman

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I just use "bladder tank" as a generic name for any captive air type tank. But I agree that bladders are not as good as diaphragm pressure tanks. I have some like for golf courses where we run the pumps at 120 PSI, but when the irrigation is off the pressure reverts to city pressure of about 50 PSI. So we use a special pressure switch that is set at 40/130, with only 35 PSI air charge in the tank. This is certainly over-stretching the diaphragm in the tank but, these systems are equipped with Cycle Stop Valves, so the pump usually only cycles once or twice a day at most. Some of these tanks have lasted 20+years already. But if there were no CSV and the pump cycled 100 times a day or so, I doubt the tank would last a year.
 

Ballvalve

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I just use "bladder tank" as a generic name for any captive air type tank. But I agree that bladders are not as good as diaphragm pressure tanks. I have some like for golf courses where we run the pumps at 120 PSI, but when the irrigation is off the pressure reverts to city pressure of about 50 PSI. So we use a special pressure switch that is set at 40/130, with only 35 PSI air charge in the tank. This is certainly over-stretching the diaphragm in the tank but, these systems are equipped with Cycle Stop Valves, so the pump usually only cycles once or twice a day at most. Some of these tanks have lasted 20+years already. But if there were no CSV and the pump cycled 100 times a day or so, I doubt the tank would last a year.

It appears to me that the good quality diaphragm tanks have a retainer that stops them from overstretching, so that might be why your tanks last. The "water worker" tanks are likely the exact same quality as their Amtrol mother, without the overstretch protection.
 
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