Re: water supply problem
- From: "Larry Caldwell" <larryc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 3 May 2006 10:32:34 -0700
Sandy wrote:
I moved into an older home on what used to be a
family farm. The house has water supplied by a
drilled well ( who knows how deep), the pump is
submersible (how big?) The system worked well
when we moved in, but over time we had more and
more instances of losing water pressure. When
the system goes down, I have to go to the basement
and lift the start level on the pressure switch to get
pressure in the system again. So far this has never
failed, but.... What is the best bet , pressure switch ?
pump? well? or a new woman who doesn't use as
much water?
Probably the third option. :)
shuts off the pump when the water pressure drops too low. It's aFrom your description, your pressure switch has a safety feature that
safety feature, to keep the pump from burning up if the well runs dry.
You have to hold the lever in the start position to let pressure build
before it will resume normal operation? It sounds like it is doing
what it was designed to do.
If you are reasonably sure the pump isn't sucking air, and it seems to
be working normally most of the time, I would suspect you are tapping
water off too quickly and the pressure is dropping too low. The first
thing I would check is the condition of the pressure tank.
Pressure tanks are funny things. People tend to think they are full of
water. That is not true. Pressure tanks are mostly full of air, with
only a little water. Take a look at your pressure tank. If there is a
spot on the side about 2/3 of the way up that fizzes and dribbles a
bit, and you hear bubbles in the tank every time the pump kicks on,
your tank is set to automatically charge with air. There is a float
inside that lets excess air out through a valve. If you see this, the
problem is not the pressure tank, so skip the pressure tank
instructions below.
If you don't see that, your tank may need to be manually charged with
air. Here is how you do it. First, buy an air compressor. You live
in the country now, you need one. You don't need a really big one, but
the little 12 volt units won't do the job. Get at least a 1 horsepower
compressor with about 25 feet of hose, a tire chuck, a blower chuck,
and a couple quick disconnect fittings so you can swap them back and
forth. You will also need a couple adjustable wrenches and a roll of
teflon tape to put them together so they don't leak. If you shop at a
farm store or auto parts store, the sales person can set you up with
everything you need. If you shop at wally world, you may save a few
bucks, but you are on your own.
You also need a dial type or solid state tire pressure gauge. The
slipstick variety are not accurate enough. Now you are all set to keep
your tires properly inflated, blow dust out of your computer and
appliances, and keep your pressure tank full of air.
There will be a standard tire air fitting on the top of the pressure
tank. Get your pressure gauge ready, and let water out of the tank
until the pump kicks on. At that very moment, measure the pressure in
the tank. Write down, you need to remember the number.
The next step is to get all the water out of the tank. Turn the pump
off and open a valve until the water stops running out. There may
still be water in the tank, held there by a vacuum. Measure the
pressure left in the tank. If the pressure is zero, you have
identified a problem. Add air to the tank until water stops coming
out. If air bubbles out, either the diaphragm is rotten or there never
was a diaphragm in the first place. If the water just stops, the
diaphragm has filled the tank.
Close the valve and fill the tank with air to just below the pump
kick-on pressure. Turn the pump back on, and you are in business.
It may be that the diaphragm is fine, and the tank has a little too
much air in it. If that is the case, water will flow normally until
the diaphragm completely fills the tank. Then the pressure will drop
like a rock, triggering the safety on the pressure switch. If that's
the case, you need to let a little pressure out of the pressure tank,
so the pressure in the diaphragm is just below the pump kick-on
pressure.
While you are poking around the well, take a look at the starter boxes
for your submersible pump. The labels will tell you how big the pump
is, and maybe even the make and model of the pump. Turn off the power
to the pump before you start pulling covers off of things. You can get
a nasty shock from exposed wires. While you have the covers off, use
your new air compressor to blow the bugs and dust out of everything.
Another test you can do is to run a lot of water while the pump is
running. If the pump sucks air and shuts down, you are pumping too
much water, and your solution is to use water more slowly. You might
switch to water conserving appliances, like a front loading washing
machine and take showers instead of baths. In an extreme case, you can
add a large storage tank (cistern) to provide large quantities of
water. As little as a half a gallon a minute adds up to 720 gallons a
day, more than a household will use unless you are irrigating. A 2500
gallon spun poly above-ground tank will cost you under $1000.
Welcome to the country. Your next chore is to find the septic tank. I
hope you had it pumped and inspected before you bought...
.
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