Well Jet Pump - Pressure plummets on use and finally recovers

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heikevin

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Interesting well pump behavior
1. Pressure at 40 psi, pump is off
2. Turn on sink and flush toilet
3. Pressure slowly drops, pump engages, pressure starts climbing
4. Suddenly pressure plummets to 10-20 psi, pump sounds airy.
5. Continues like this until toilet is full.
6. Pressure starts building, at about 30 psi pump sounds normal (full) again
7. Pump continues to run and builds pressure to 40 psi and shuts off.

So seems like the well has no volume capacity once tank is depleted. Could well be starving? If I shut the main valve off to cut water usage the pressure immediately starts to build normally. One other piece of data... I cannot get system beyond 40 psi. If I adjust the shutoff higher than that the pressure seems to stabilize at about 42 psi and the pump just continues to run. (New 3/4 HP Red Jacket jet pump, new leathers and foot valve.)

Any help is appreciated.
 

Reach4

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I am not a pro, and I don't know much about jet pumps. Seems to me that the well could be running out of water or you could have a clogged jet. How long after your recent pump work did this problem start?


What symptoms caused you to get a new pump?
 

Theodore

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Couple of questions that may be helpful:
1. Does this vary with time of day? For example, first thing in the morning after the well has had hours to recharge overnight?
2. Has this always been the case, or has gotten progressively worse over time?
3. Have you checked the air pressure of the bladder tank? Must be done when tank is 100% empty of water (i.e. turn off pump breaker and open all water until no more water pressure, then check air pressure). Check against rated pressure for tank (on label or find online).

I remember when my jet pump sounded "airy"... I had pumped the well dry.
 

heikevin

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Sort of a long story and I was asked to help just recently. Sounds like this behavior was occurring about a year ago and so the owner decided it needed a new pump. This property is on hunting land so usage is limited but heavier in fall.

After pump replacement, someone else was brought in to replace the manifold on top of the two pipes. (This is a pipe inside the sand point pipe configuration. In doing this they dropped the inner pipe into the sand point pipe and had to use extensions to retrieve it. Then nothing worked and it would not hold a prime. I should add that since all this the system has not worked for over a year. Recently he asked me if I would look at it.

I pulled the pipe and found that the leathers were cracked off. I replaced leathers and foot valve and reassembled. That brings us to current situation. After replacing leathers the configuration again holds a prime and charges system to 40 psi.

I did check the bladder pressure with the tank 100% empty and currently have 38 psi in the bladder. This pressure was chosen because I can't seem to get the pressure much over 40.

Theodore, your last comment on airy and running the well dry sounds like where I am at. How did you determine that this is what was happening?
 

Reach4

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I did check the bladder pressure with the tank 100% empty and currently have 38 psi in the bladder. This pressure was chosen because I can't seem to get the pressure much over 40.
That precharge pressure is too high. For a jet pump you would typically set the precharge pressure to 3 or 4 PSI below the cut-on pressure rather than near the cut-off pressure.
 

Theodore

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Theodore, your last comment on airy and running the well dry sounds like where I am at. How did you determine that this is what was happening?[/QUOTE]

How? Well, I hooked up a lawn sprinkler to the hose at full blast and went to lunch. When I returned it was barely sputtering a drizzle out the sprinkler, and I ran to the basement to hear the jet pump sounding like it was pumping gravel. Lesson-learned on my part.

Reach4's comment is valid.
And for your situation, this troubleshooting checklist may help: http://www.flotecpump.com/residentialpage_resource_ts_tanks.aspx

Just curious, and for your consideration: How shallow is the well? and how much is the stillwater depth? Could it be that it somehow silted up? Could it be that you're just pumping too much compared to what it can supply? Also consider taking this discussion to the equally knoweldgeable people in the "Pumps and Tanks Well Forum & Blog" on this website.
 

Valveman

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Like Reach said you have too much air in the pressure tank. But the real problem sounds like the leathers are still not right or you have a leak in the suction pipe.
 
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