Deep Well - High and Low Pressure - Weird

[StickerMigTigger]

1.5 HP, 240v Flint and Walling @ 300 feet, installed 3 months ago
85 Gal Flotec pressure tank, three years old
40/60 pressure switch

No Load:
- System will pressurize to 60
- System will hold at 60 psi

Open system:
- Pressure drops to 40 psi and pressure switch kicks in
- Pump is on
- Pressure gauge drops to 30 psi
- Pressure stays at 30 psi till system is closed
- Once closed pressure builds and stops at 60 psi

I checked the pressure tank and found it at 21 psi so I brought it to spec at 38. No change in behavior.

I want to blame the tank but if the bladder was shot I'd expect water at the valve stem. The recharge I gave it has held for 72 hours.

I get no air in the house when using the system.

I expect the pump to overtake the discharge once it kicks in as this is normal behavior for this system but the pump will not raise the pressure past that 30 psi mark until I close the system.

I'm dying to say this is a waterlogged tank.

Anyone got a clue????

 

[johnjh2o]

Bad pressure gauge or the pump cannot keep up with the water running.

 

[StickerMigTigger]

Pump would have to be bad then as the one it replaced was the same model and specs. The old one wasn't bad, I just didn't want to drop an old one back down the hole. I'll replace the gauge and see what happens first but there's only about 30 psi coming out of a 3/4" hose bib 6 feet from the tank. Man I hate to have to pull that pump again. grrrrrrrrr

 

[speedbump]

From your description, and I assume "till system is closed" means you closed the main valve. This would indicate that there is nothing wrong with the pump, but there is a giant leak somewhere beyond the main valve. If it were in the drop pipe or if the pump was bad for some reason, it would probably never make 60 psi.

 

[StickerMigTigger]

Follow up: All the weirdness cleared up after I changed out the two inline filters. Who'd a thunk it. There are two whole house compressed paper filters; one before the pressure tank and one after. Given the system behavior it must have been clogging and unclogging to some degree during use. Pretty sure it was the one after the pressure tank.

True or not; the problem went away immediately after the filter change and hasn't been seen since.

Thanks to the folks who had input.

 

[johnjh2o]

You should not have a filter before the pressure tank. When that filter becomes clogged you have a good chance of burning out your pump.

 

[speedbump]

You never mentioned in line filters. Do yourself a favor, save money and time by removing both cartridges and leave them out. They do absolutely no good at all. At least remove the one in front of the tank like John said.

 

[StickerMigTigger]

You never mentioned in line filters. Do yourself a favor, save money and time by removing both cartridges and leave them out. They do absolutely no good at all. At least remove the one in front of the tank like John said.

So you think I should drink all that iron and granite dust from the tap? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of.

 

[speedbump]

If you have Granite dust you may have discovered the only good use for one of those things. But trust me, in line filters do not remove iron unless it's already oxidized and if it were, that filter would be plugged up all the time.