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Author:
donberry (TN)
sort of a different problem so I thought maybe i should start a new thread...sorry if I am mistaken.
well,quick summary. Thought I had it figured out as the pump would kick on but if I turned on the spigot, the water would only run for a few seconds and then come to an abrupt stop. It was a 30/50 pressure switch so I checked the tank (a pretty new tank) to insure the pressure was at 28 psi, it was, so thought it might be the pressure switch was bad (actually a pretty new pressure switch also, but it has sat unused since last November or so).
I wanted higher pressure anyway as this is used pretty much just for watering the lawn, so today I installed a new 40/60 pressure switch.
Hooked it up exactly as the instructions said, hit the circuit breaker and water started filling the tank. Looking at the pressure gauge, it did seem to stop filling at around 35 psi - tho it could have just been doing it much more slowly at that point....
walked outside, turned on the spigot, tons of water pressure - for just a few seconds and then it kicked off again.
The new switch I bought was a cheap one(only 40/60 lowes had) and did not have the manual lever on it to manually restart it, so I flipped the circuit breaker on and off and water started filling the tank again.
Walked outside, turned on the spigot and the same thing, water runs for a few seconds then abruptly stops.......I would have thought that there would still be water coming out just from gravity and the pressure of the tank...?
Before I hooked everything back up, I did hook up a hose and "drain" the tank the best I could. I also removed the pressure gauge to check for any obstructions as I do have quite a bit of sediment in my well (I am guessing the pump is too close to the bottom and needs to be raised up).
Soooo. not exactly what direction to go now. Anyone happen to have any suggestions ?
The tank is maybe 1 1/2 old. Seems to be holding pressure just fine.
Is there a possibility the wires from the submersible pump are wrong ? I am probably mistaken, but was thinking the red wire starts the pump, the black wire keeps it going and the yellow wire is ????? (like a neutral maybe ). The 3 wires coming off the pump are colored red, black and green, so I took for granted the green was really the yellow wire.....it is a 220v pump and everything I have read shows the wires as red/black and yellow......
Man I hate to pull the pump....it is like 120 feet down so would be a realllll hassle.
So....any suggestions why it would just give me water for a few seconds and then abruptly stop ?
any info appreciated.
thanks.
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Author:
North Carolina Plumber (NC)
Red = 120 volt, Black = 120 volt, green = ground. I wish I were there, I could properly diagnose the problem in a few minutes. From your description I'm not sure whats going on. How long does the pump run from the time the switch turns it on til it turns it off? You had 28 PSI of air in the tank when it was empty of water? I don't consider it a hassle to pull a 120' deep pump, now when you get down over 500' then its a chore.
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Author:
Fixitangel (NC)
If you open a faucet to draw the pressure down and make the switch kick in, then close the valve, will the pump come up to 60 PSI and shut off?
Is the problem isolated to one spigot or does this water "shut off" apply to the whole house?
On a side note: When you changed the pressure switch from a 30/50 to a 40/60, it is recommended to change the pressure tank precharge to 2 psi below the NEW cut-in pressure which is now 38 psi. I doubt that's your only issue. Hard to tell without seeing it
Call a plumber or well service pro.
Edited 2 times.
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Author:
RWP (SD)
How old is the pump? This sounds very much like the pump has very diminished output.
- - - - - - - - - -
Retired after 50 years of plumbing and heating.
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Author:
donberry (TN)
1st, I appreciate the responses....
the pump is maybe 5 years old. It has never been used "heavily" tho. Water is too hard and has only been used for watering the lawn etc....
the wires - could be wrong and often am, but from my "research, a 220v submersible pump has 3 wires coming from it, red, black and yellow. Red is the "start", black keeps it running and the yellow is "neutral". On mine I think the reason it is green is just because of the wiring they used......it is a pretty heavy duty 3 wire with a yellow "casing" (rubber outside). I believe they just wired up the green wire as the yellow wire....
Was out playing with it some today, am in the process of replacing a garage door so did not have much time.....here is what happens.
1st I turned on the circuit breaker and had the spigot hooked up to a hose and the sprinkler. Ran for just a couple of minutes and stopped, the pressure gauge immediately dropping to zero....so I kicked off the circuit breaker and figured I would look at it later.
Taking a "break", I went back out to play with the well. This time i hooked up a hose sprayer instead of the sprinkler. Turned on the circuit breaker and stood out there washing off my driveway for a good 5 minutes or so. I never lost pressure - will obviously have to try it longer and see what happens...
it seems at the moment that it is when there is nothing slowing down the flow that it only runs for a minute or so and loses pressure. If I just turn on the spigot and let it run or using the sprinkler.....nothing really slowing the water down.
BUT, if I am using a hose sprayer, which does not let the water run full force out, it seems to run okay.
I am pretty sure i should be able to just turn on the spigot and let it run with no problems, or at least until the well ran dry.........
now I am wondering.....
there is a lot of sediment in my water and the tank, while only maybe 2 years old or so, was sitting for a good 6-7 months not being used. Maybe a bunch of crud inside the tank messing things up for some reason ?
I am headed to Lowes for some garage door stuff and am going to pick up a new pressure gauge. I know that should not affect it but maybe it is reading wrong from sediment in it ?
any suggestion appreciated. Going to be expensive keeping my lawn watered with "city" water as dry as it is here this year.....
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Author:
Paul48 (CT)
First off......There is no neutral to a 240 volt pump. A 2 wire pump has a built-in motor start feature.It can be run with the pressure switch alone. A 3 wire pump would have a control box, usually somewhere near the pressure switch.
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Author:
Dirtball (OH)
I had this same thing happen to me about 5 months ago. Thankfully January was really mild. My well is down about 93 feet and it wasn't hard to pull by hand. Shut the breaker off pop the cap on the well. If you don't already have a puller, you can make one from 3 pieces of 1 inch pipe and a "T". Get a flashlight and look down the pipe. You will see a place on top of the pitless adapter to screw in the pipe. Make sure you open an outside spigot to release all pressure on the line and pull the pitless adapter straight up. once you get the adapter out of the well it's just a hand over hand pull. Now that you have the pump on the surface, replace it, it's fried. The thermal overload switch is allowing it to kick on for a minute or 2 and then kicking out. I replaced my 1/2 hp with a 3/4. It is built heavier and doesn't have to work as hard. Kind of like pulling a heavy trailer with a 350 or a 454. Which one will crap out first?
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