outside water pump problem

The Waxbill

I get my water from a well and the water is drawn by a pump in the pump house at the back of the house. I had no water at the taps in the house when i got up this morning. on investigation i found that there's no water being drawn from the well by the pump. there seems to be electrical power at the pump but no water being drawn. What could be the problem here, what should i do next?

slavetothegrind

Is there a pressure gauge? is it showing pressure?
If it is the standard booster pump chances are the pressure switch oriface is blocked up, more common than pump failure.

if you have some basic plumbing diy skills you can fix it yourself.

normally you will have to remove the wiring from the switch ( having unplugged pump) in order to remove the switch, note wiring positions.
If the pressure vessel is on top this too will probably need removing to allow you unscrew the switch.

Switch oriface may be cleaned by carefully unscrewing the six nuts holding the diaphragm casing together and then carefully opening it up.
You can then wash and scrape out the water inlet untill you can see through it.
Reassemble and hopefully off you go.

Pump may need priming though.

The Waxbill

Hi and thanks, yes it has a pressure gauge and it is showing pressure. I might have to have a look at that now.

I kind of thought I might have found out what the problem is earlier. There is an electrical box on top of the expansion vessel and I was checking the wires inside in it and there's a capacitor in there too. There's power going in to the capacitor but doesn't seem to be any power coming out of it and from what I can see that's the lead going down to the pump. So I think that might be the problem, no power to the pump. I'll have to see can I get a replacement for that capacitor tomorrow. Or am I way off here?

Buford T Justice

The Waxbill wrote: »

Hi and thanks, yes it has a pressure gauge and it is showing pressure. I might have to have a look at that now.

I kind of thought I might have found out what the problem is earlier. There is an electrical box on top of the expansion vessel and I was checking the wires inside in it and there's a capacitor in there too. There's power going in to the capacitor but doesn't seem to be any power coming out of it and from what I can see that's the lead going down to the pump. So I think that might be the problem, no power to the pump. I'll have to see can I get a replacement for that capacitor tomorrow. Or am I way off here?

If you have a multi meter you can measure the capacitor and see if its holding the charge that its supposed to. That will tell you if the capacitor needs replacing or not

The Waxbill

Anyone any idea where I might buy this capacitor? I thought I'd get it in Maplin today but they didn't have it.

The Waxbill

Sorry it's 16 micro farads by the way.

The Waxbill

Did some more troubleshooting today. Capacitor is ok. I took apart the pressure switch as slavetothegrind suggested and took a look at the orifice, all seemed ok there too. I then tried wiring the lead from the pump directly to a plug and plugged it in to see if the pump was working itself. Nothing... I tried priming the pump by pouring water down the hose leading to the pump in the well but no joy. Does this suggest my pump down in the well is kaput? If it is I'm in trouble as I don't know where the well is. The lead and pipe to the pump disappears underground just outside the pumphouse and I can't see a manhole cover or any sort of cover anywhere nearby. I'm going to have to call in an expert tomorrow as 3 days now without water is no joke, but I can't even tell him where the well is. By the way does anyone know a plumber who could sort this for me in the Limerick/Clare area.

kscobie

might be the non return valve on the footvalve, if its not holding the pressure in the pipe, it would drain back into the well??

The Waxbill

I actually got it sorted yesterday evening. I found the well and pulled up the submersible pump which was a long way down, a lot of pulling and huffing and puffing on my part lol. I have no idea what fixed it but when I switched on the switch again in the pumphouse the pump started running, so I put the pump back down the well and lo and behold I had water again, it has ne baffled but at least I know where my well is now, if little else. It took a long time though for the water to run clear again though at the tap in the house and to be honest it's still a bit cloudy looking, is this normal? Also the water pressure isn't great at the tap in the kitchen, but funnily enough it's fine at the outside tap. Also at the same kitchen tap the hot water only comes out at a trickle but again that's fine in the bathroom tap. What could be the problem here, could it be sludge in the lines or maybe an airlock?

sky6

It seems like you have an air lock and will need to bleed you system at the hot cylinder.
I would also suggest you get a Capacitor and have it on standby, as they then to burn out every couple of years. You can get them in Ebay about 20 euro.

The Waxbill

I tried bleeding every pipe in the hot press, still only a trickle of water at the hot tap in the kitchen?

slavetothegrind

If it's a mixer tap there may be a filter ( more than likely) in the tap at the spout end, remove and clean.

glad you got pump sorted.;)