jet pump overheated and possibly siezed

[ttamoneypit]

working on someones house and I've never dealt with this type of stuff before so its all online searching.

1 hp jet pump and a pressure tank. when I first looked at it I did notice right away that someone previously installed the hoses wrong discharge and intake hoses were reversed so thats why it never worked.

so I had the pump working for my friend for maybe 1 month

today I installed a hot water heater for her and when I went to fill it up the pump acted like it lost prime or maybe the well is low , it was sounding different as if it was sucking air I turned the breaker off and waited of turn it back on and its fine builds 52 psi and shut off with main on/off valve at the pressure tank turned off.

So I open the valves to continue filling the water heater tank and its fine continues to fill it up so I go to the kitchen and open valves to let all air out ok fine,, all air out water runs fine I return to basement and notice that the pump is running and pressure never reaches shut off PSI which is usually 52psi so I'm thinking this thing has been running for over 10 minutes I turn off breaker and wait 5 minutes turn breaker back on and hear the pump try to start as if it made 1/2 a revolution and thats it now its done

I worked on the damn think all day and then this happens

back story this house has gone through several pumps over the yrs I'm wondering if water levels in the well or artisian well or whatever its called is an issue

basicially venting about this mess,but heres my question --how do I check the water level in the well ?

and could i have possibly put too much air in the pressure tank ? I watched videos on how to do it and it said to check the air pressure when tank was empty so i did that and put air in it with my small portable 5 gallon tank pressure tire gauge never read over 20lbs---where did all the air go from my little tank it was at 80lbs when I started filling the water pressure tank.

pressure tank is not waterlogged---using the knock test it had half air and half water


sorry for the long post

 

[Valveman]

The jet pump motor not running has nothing to do with water in the well. Probably a bad bearing or start cap/start switch problem. You can open the top of the well and check the water level. But even if the static water level is high, it may drop when the pump is running. Most likely a sand point or well screen is clogged. You will have to get the motor running before you can check production of the well.

 

[speedbump]

I have never been able to tell water levels in tanks by knocking on them. If the tank is a bladder tank, and the pump is off and you have no water pressure, the tank should be empty, not half full.

 

[ttamoneypit]

I have never been able to tell water levels in tanks by knocking on them. If the tank is a bladder tank, and the pump is off and you have no water pressure, the tank should be empty, not half full.

there is water pressure when the pump is off, it holds pressure,but when I've been working on replacing pipes I had to empty the pressure tank and air came out with it. Check pressure at the top shrader valve and its zero

my house has deep well and pump is down in the well when it runs my pressure gauge slowly rises

now this jet pump at my friends house when the pump runs the pressure gauge flutters the whole time and its not a fast process to go from 30lbs to 52lbs. The intake water line is black plastic 1-1/4inch and not sure why but it comes in through basement wall 90 deg elbow down for about 10 inches and then pipes over to the pump about 8 feet then another 90 degree elbow and up about 16 inches and then another 90 degree elbow over 10 inches and into the pump, also has the 1 inch return line configured the same way. No idea why its like this in my opinion its too many bends and too much restriction.

 

[Valveman]

The bladder in your tank is broken from the pump cycling on and off too much. You can solve the cycling problem while replacing the big tank with one of these.
https://cpkits.com/collections/frontpage/products/pk1a

 

[speedbump]

There is no uglier plumbing than poly pipe with a ton of elbows and clamps. Especially when poly bends easily.
Jet pumps are typically slower than submersibles and lots of wells have screens which plug up and cause the pump to run longer.

 

[ttamoneypit]

pump started up ,but only twice

was doing other work in the breaker box and for the hell of it I tried the breaker for the pump and the thing started up again,but would not build enough pressure to get to the 52 lbs that the switch is set for. I shut off the power to finish installing a breaker for electric baseboard heat and when I was done with that I tried the pump again and it fired up but wouldn't shut off on its own---wouldn't get to that 52 lbs so I turned it off and tried adjusting it ---turn breaker back on and now it refuses to start up again.

Does it need a new capacitor or start switch ?

 

[speedbump]

Does it need a new capacitor or start switch ?

Does it hum when you put power to it? Or is it quiet as if no power is getting to it?