well pump issue

pauljmor

Good morning

Thanks in advance

Now that I'm here over the Christmas it has reminded me that the humming in the corner of the garden is costing me money in the use of unnecessary electricity.

The issue:
The well pump wont stop running as it wont reach the cut-off pressure

The background:

My old pumphouse was located above the well bore with the well situated in the pumphouse. During the summer I placed a manhole above this bore and moved the well pump some 10m into the corner of the garden and placed it into an adman steel shed (great little shed)

All worked well before this move. There are no leaks and the pump is only about 14 months old.

Pressure at the house is in excess of 1 bar and I've no issues

So far I've installed a new pressure switch and then adjusted it down as much as I could and it still wont reach cutout.

The well is a two pipe system 50m deep and then 10m horizontal before the pump in the new pumphouse. Pump type - 1.5hp pump sitting on 60ltr expansion tank.

Once you have water at the tap you really just learn to live with the niggling thinks in a house but it really needs to be sorted

Wearb

did u make sure that there is water reaching the new pressure switch? those passageways a notorious for clogging.

pauljmor

Thanks.

Yes at first I did think that might have been the cause and I removed some of the tape that I had wrapped around the connection. there's a nice flow there aright.

It has to be something simple

Water John

Yeah these arrangements are tricky. Had these on a shallow well, PITA. Any chance its sucking air anywhere?


Poor advice now, but go for a deep well pump next time. Save 1hp as half HP will do you and very reliable.

Wearb

Wearb wrote: »

did u make sure that there is water reaching the new pressure switch? those passageways a notorious for clogging.

DANGER! Be careful with live electricity.
Unless comfortable with electricity, call a professional. Its not worth taking a chance if you are not certain about the safety of what you are doing.

Did you -with an insulated screwdriver- manually activate the pressure switch?, to see if that end is working.

pauljmor

yeah checked pressure switch, for €17 i thought there was no harm replacing it and seeing if that worked with the factory settings.

still no joy and adjusted as much as i could. no joy.

Its a shallow pump I have. it was a 1hp pump but when i replaced it 14 months ago i swapped it out for a 1.5hp as i knew i would be moving the well pump down the road.

Wearb

pauljmor wrote: »

yeah checked pressure switch, for €17 i thought there was no harm replacing it and seeing if that worked with the factory settings.

still no joy and adjusted as much as i could. no joy.

Its a shallow pump I have. it was a 1hp pump but when i replaced it 14 months ago i swapped it out for a 1.5hp as i knew i would be moving the well pump down the road.

Well did manually opening it cut it out ?

pauljmor

yeah when i manually use the screwdriver it cuts out and then open it starts up again

Wearb

Looks like pump not building pressure then. Maybe impeller, leak or problem with jet body.
Perhaps time to change, as already suggested.

Wearb

What pressure reading have you been getting on the gauge?

TPM

Those 2 pipe deep well systems are a disaster I would advise replacing it with a submersible pump, more reliable and economical.
Did you check the air charge in the tank it can cause issues.
When moving/extending the pipes something could have partially blocked the jet assembly
If the pipes dropped down a bit they could be sitting in the sediment at the bottom of the well.
You could have some air in the pump that needs to be blead out.

It takes very little to stop these making pressure

The Red Ace

if the problem has only arisen since the change over the first thing you need to check is the rotation of the motor, if it has wrong rotation and pumping off the back of the impellar it will never cut out. I came across a situation like this years ago where a motor had been rewound and when refitted couldn't be made cut out, sent back in twice to the rewinders nothing found amiss, yeah the rewind was ok but the black tails of the winding connected incorrectly to suit the arrow of rotation

Joe1919

Make sure pump is primed and holding water i.e. footvalve not leaking. Is it possible that you let the jet further down into well during the change and the jet body screen has picked up sediment that can also partly block the jet? Also, there is normally a pressure regulation valve fitted on the outlet of deep well pumps that ensures that there is a good initial build up of pressure to the jet. It may need adjustment but take note of initial setting. Best of luck.

PS. 50 meters is a deep well and the 1 Bar (=14 psi) before the change is not great pressure, so it may be that your were close to the pump limits before the change anyhow. The water table may also be low with little rain and this has effect.