Similar Question to Crumm Plumber?

[Trapper77]

Amazing how when something bad happens there is always somebody else with similar problems.

Sunday night I am running the sink why I shave. Water stops. Go into the garage, pump kicks on water is running fine.

Fast forward to Monday morning. Have an enormous amount of water pressure in the house. Water pressure guage reads 30 psi and the pump is running. No water running in the house and pump continues to run and the pressure stays at 30 PSI on the guage. Don't have time to mess with it then so go to work and call the local pump place after switching the pump off.

They tell me probably a pressure switch $25 for the part. How much for you guys to come out and fix it.........$200. Not happening.

This morning turned the pump on so the wife and I could shower, starts working just fine. Then, at the end of my shower, no water. Then I get a huge pressure surge. Go out to the guage same story as the other day. Before I left for work the guage read 70 psi and was slowly letting off. in 15 minutes it was down to 60 psi with no water running. I have a shut off in my line right after the pressure tank. I shut this off and it did not cure my problem to I am pretty sure there is no broken pipes. Any ideas


Thanks fellas

 

[Crumm]

Sounds like your problems are stranger than mine. I am no expert as you can tell by the problem I was having but I would start by changing the switch and they are only $22 for one made in the USA or $19 for one made in Taiwan - get the one made in USA!. I would also recommend a new guage as having 30psi on the guage but "enormous amount of water pressure" in the house has me confused. Do you have a filter, water softener or anything else in the system between where the guage is and the house that could be clogged up?

 

[Trapper77]

Update, sort of.
Guage and switch seem to be working. Guage clicks on at 30 and shuts of at 50.
I have checked the air in my pressure tank 28 psi.
I think I might have something clogging the pipe that goes to my guage and pump switch.
The guage is really slow to react as well as the pump. If I shut the pump off and turn the water on I stop getting water flow at about 30 psi. Then the guage slowly starts to creep down to 0.
When the pump clicks on it goes and shuts off at 50 psi. After the pump shuts off the pressure slowly creeps up to 60-70 psi.

This is what makes me think there is something obstructing the flow of water to these to components.

Anybody with more knowledge than me help me out?

BTW Thanks Crumm

Trapper

 

[Crumm]

There should be a check valve between the pump and these components, it may be going bad?

 

[Wingdog]

Like Crumm said, there should be a check valve on top of the pump if it is a submersible. If the pressure is draining off I would check there first. You'll have to pull the pump out of the well to do this.

 

[Crumm]

Windog my check valve is in the house where the line from the well comes in.

 

[Trapper77]

Am not sure about the check valve I don't have one in the garage and really don't want to pull 30 feet of pipe to look for it. The hole pump was replaced in August of 2003. I know that some of the pressure is leaking out because of a leaking outdoor faucet.

What I am really looking for an answer to is why the pressure is spiking. I obviously have 0 water pressure when nothing comes out of the tap any more but the guage says 30 and then slowly goes to 0 with the valves open. The pump shuts of at 50 but then the pressure slowly climbs. It seems like I am not getting accurate pressure to my guage and switch. Does this make sense or am I an idiot?

Thanks for the replies.

Trapper

 

[Crumm]

Put on a new guage. If it is not the guage it sounds like there is a blockage somewhere.

 

[Wingdog]

Windog my check valve is in the house where the line from the well comes in.

Sometimes people put one in the house too so they don't drain the pressure tank when doing repair in the well. If it is a submersible pump most of them come with built in check valves, but if it didn't then the pump installer should have put one on.

 

[Wingdog]

Am not sure about the check valve I don't have one in the garage and really don't want to pull 30 feet of pipe to look for it. The hole pump was replaced in August of 2003. I know that some of the pressure is leaking out because of a leaking outdoor faucet.

What I am really looking for an answer to is why the pressure is spiking. I obviously have 0 water pressure when nothing comes out of the tap any more but the guage says 30 and then slowly goes to 0 with the valves open. The pump shuts of at 50 but then the pressure slowly climbs. It seems like I am not getting accurate pressure to my guage and switch. Does this make sense or am I an idiot?

Thanks for the replies.

Trapper

Have you checked the level of water in your well lately? If your well is low on water you may be picking up a bit of air and that air going through the system would seem like a spike in the water pressure. Don't rely on those pressure gauges they are all cheap pieces of crap.