Hello!! I've been struggling with a well for a couple years now. Just replaced the pressure switch again (30-50 psi). I saw it cycling on and off pretty frequently so I went down there and watched it cycle from 30 to 40 again and again. I tried to tighten the "upper cutoff" spring on the right side, but this had no effect no matter how many turns I gave it. My switch is cycling on a 10 psi range and it seems I can't change it or widen it. Any ideas of what is going wrong here?

 

Change the switch.. or there is sediment in the tube going to it... Need to clean the tube probably....

As stated also check the air in the tank..

To check the tank pressure:

1: Turn off pump power.
2: Open a tap in the house. Allow all water to stop running. Leave the tap open.
3: Measure the pressure in the bladder tank now. Should be 2psi below cut-in pressure.

If the pressure is low,add air with a tire pump or air compressor to the correct psi. If water comes out of the air gauge,the tank has failed and must be replaced.

 

Is there a pressure tank?
If so did you check the pressure?

 

Yes. Make sure you around 28 psi of air pressure in your pressure tank when it is completely empty of water. Sounds like you have almost no air at all.

 

Wanted to let you all know: I have seen the replies and am taking it in. Yes, I did put a pressure gauge on the tank -- while system was up and running and it showed 28 psi. I guess that is useless, and I'll go out and power it down now.

 

If by up and running you mean water in the pressure tank then yes, that measurement was useless.

 

OK. It was a total lack of pressure in the tank! I had always been shown by our local well guys to just check the pressure directly. Today, I powered it down and drained out the water to zero -- then checked and found about five pounds in there!! Raised it to 28 psi and now the well is behaving as it should. Thank you to one and all for the assistance!

 

Good to hear.

Yes. If water is in the tank when you measure the air pressure then you are basically just measuring the water pressure, since the water is pushing on that air, at that pressure.

The next question you need to ask yourself is why did the air pressure reduce to 5 psi. I should have added above that if you are going to add air to the tank you should make sure a tap is left open. This ensures that your tanks diaphragm is still intact. If it was breached the air you add would flow out the open tap and you could never bring it to the desired 28 psi. It would confirm, what might actually be the case here, that the diaphragm in your pressure tank is breached.

The other way to determine this is over time. You see, even with a breached diaphragm your system can appear to be working fine. Since air will flow into the pipes and tank when you drain it, especially if you add some, once you turn on the water some of that air will get trapped in the tank and can be compressed to provide the water pressure needed for the house. If your pressure tank is breached, however, over time you will find that the amount of water you get between pump cycles will start to decrease as that air starts to dissolve into the water (the purpose of the diaphragm is to keep the air and water separate to prevent this). Eventually (a few weeks) your pump will start to short cycle like it did before. If this happens, it is time to replace the tank. So just keep an eye on it.

 

You might have guessed it. Since then, on two occasions, the pressure has bottomed out and the pressure switch did not cut in. I have gone out and climbed down into the well pit and held the pressure switch on until pressure came back into range. Then it works normally for a while--a week or two. Then it does this again. Or, could this be caused by something else?

 

Often caused by blockage in the small pipe leading to the pressure switch, as lawrosa mentioned above. Remove the switch, clean out the pipe, rinse out any gunk in the inlet fitting of the pressure switch, and give it a go.

 

Thanks, Carbide. I did that a month ago when it was suggested. That pipe is OK. I went out there just now and re-did the pressure adjustment making sure that the house faucets were open. I'll watch it and see whether pressure is maintained. If not, I'm off to get a new pressure tank.

 

The pressure tank would not cause the system pressure to go to 0psi.
You can run your well without a pressure tank.
The pressure tank is just there to keep the pump from short cycling.

You may need to re-pipe your manifold where the pressure switch is. ONLY your pressure switch can control the well pressure and it MUST be able to read the actual pressure to monitor it and switch correctly.

 

Its from too much air in the tank.. The badder collapses on itself and will give the 0 psi issue...

Let 5 psi out of the tank,,,,