I replaced my jet pump with a submersible pump this fall. All was working fine until about 2 weeks ago when I noticed the pump was going on about every 15 minutes. I have checked all around for any leaks but I haven't found any. Could the pressure switch be causing the pump to kick on so often? Thanks.

Rich

 

Well, the pressure switch is causing the pump to turn on. That's it's job. But why it's doing it every 15 minutes isn't the switches fault. You have a leak somewhere.

First I would make absolutely certain you don't have any toilets with slow leaks. Then, a shutoff valve in the water line can help you isolate and find out if the leak is upstream or downstream of the shutoff valve. If you close the valve and the house looses pressure then the leak is somewhere in the house's plumbing or fixtures. If the house maintains pressure then you need to consider a leak in the piping underground, pipe down the well or the check valve on the pump is leaking. Since you are a bit north you might have a pitless adapter which could be leaking.

 

I’m no expert for sure, but I want to second what Pilot Dane said. I was thinking the same thing.

 

Pilot Dane, I am now seeing my well pump kicking on every 3 minutes instead of every 15 minutes as it was the other day when I wrote. Should I have a concern for it running too much to the point it will stop running. I have isolated the problem to the well itself because I closed the main valve to the house and it still kicked on every three minutes. Thanks.

 

Yes, you should be concerned! It sounds like your leak is getting worse... fast. Until you locate the leak you also need to be concerned about erosion as all that water has to go somewhere.

This problem won't directly cause the pump to quit working other than by wearing it out or by pumping the well dry (which can allow the motor to overheat). I would also be concerned about your electricity bill. Until you get the problem fixed I would only turn on the well pump circuit breaker when you need water and turn the breaker off when not using water.

Do you have access to your well head? If so open it up and listen. If the leak is in the well and above the water level you will hear the water splashing or spraying. If you don't hear it my next step would be to pull the pump and inspect the pipe that's down the well. If the leak isn't there then it's probably in the water line underground between the well and house.

If you can't find the leak and think it's in the underground pipe to the house I would consider replacing it the whole way. Your water line is probably buried a minimum of 42-48" deep which will make locating the leak from the surface difficult without special equipment unless you get lucky and it's bubbling to the surface. There are listening/locating tools that might be able to locate the leak but by the time you pay someone to locate the leak and then pay to dig & fix it might not be much different cost than replacing the whole line to the well.

Do you have any idea what type of water line you have buried? If your water line is copper or galvanized/steel it may be corroded and nearing the end of it's life. Even if you find, dig and repair this leak you may have more leaks coming in the future.

 

The only concern I would have about shutting off the pump until you need water is that you may also need to reprime it. If you can shut off the pressure tank as well or have a valve between the pressure tank and pump that you can turn off that might help as well.

As a quick fix you could install a check valve between the pump and well. Right in front of the pump is best. Just keep in mind that you may need to reprime the line, after that repair and if you fill your line from the pump the check valve will stop water getting to the well line. Perhaps a T that allows priming the line, on the other side of the check valve, would help in your repair.

 

Optsy -

Are you sure that's right? This is a submersible pump.

I know your idea about a check valve is right. That helped me for a while. My check valve was (and still is) right before the pressure tank.

 

The nice thing about submersible pumps is you don't have to worry about loosing the prime. The pump is under water and always primed as long as there is water in the well.

Adding a check valve can work if the problem is the check valve on the pump is leaking... which can happen. I have never seen one get worse (leak more) so quickly but since adding a check valve above ground is easy it could be worth a try.

 

Sorry, saw the word jet pump and then started typing. I didn't notice the word was in the context of changing it.