Loss of pressure and lots of vibration

[unclecake]

I can't say that I know a ton about wells, but I do know a lot as I built my house and I am mechanically inclined. With that being said, I have come to some conclusions, but I am definitely not an expert, which is why I am here.

And I am sorry about the novel that I wrote.

Over the past several months I have had a weird occurrence, three times now. A lot of nights we have three shower heads running at the same time. All of these occurrences have happened with all three were running.

The water pressure will start to run drop down to next to nothing and the pipes will vibrate very badly near where our softener is. Our bladder tank is kinds of difficult to access, but I assume it is vibrating as well, but that is just an assumption. Last night I went down and turned off the main valve between the bladder tank and the softener and the vibration stopped. I turned it back on about 10 seconds later and all was well. It took me about two minutes to get out of the shower and run to the basement to see where it was vibrating, so it was vibrating for a while.

After doing some reading I think that I could have either (1.) a worn impeller on the pump, (2.) clogged screen (3.) not enough water in the well.

I thought of these due to the drop in water pressure for a short time and then it working fine shortly afterwards. I built the house 11 years ago, so I don't know if the pump could have issues this soon or what. I am not afraid to try to raise the pump out of the well, but I would have to learn a few more things about it. If my memory serves me correctly, the well is less than 100' deep.

Thanks!

 

[Valveman]

At what pressure is this happening? It could be the pressure is lower than the air pre-charge in the tank, which will make the bladder bounce and cause water hammer.

 

[unclecake]

I couldn't get to the bladder tank to see the pressure, but the shower goes down to almost a trickle. I don't recall if the pipes start vibrating when the pressure starts to drop off or after it lowers down. Maybe I need to make a clear path to the bladder tank so that I can run to the basement and see what is happening.

 

[Valveman]

You need to check the air in the bladder tank with the pump off and the water drained down to zero. There should be about 5 PSI less air in the tank than where the pump starts. ie; 40/60 switch, 35 PSI air in the tank.

Then you need to look at the pressure gauge when the problem is happening and see if the pressure is at or below the air charge. That will make a huge vibration.

Your tank could also be waterlogged and the vibration is the pump rapid cycling, which is a really bad thing.

 

[speedbump]

The total loss of pressure except for a trickle sounds like a pressure switch nipple or tube being almost plugged shut. Not allowing the switch to see the actual pressure in the system until the water can squeeze through the plug.

The vibration could be anything. That would be a hands on for me.