No water randomly

[Ajt116]

Hello!

I’ve been having an issue recently where my water just stops. I’ve done multiple things to try and figure it out and thought I had it fixed but it just happened again today.

Background: about a year ago we noticed our water was fading out and then the pressure switch would kick on, it seemed like it was kicking too late to build pressure back up. I replaced the pressure switch and was good for 6 months until we got back from a vacation. I assumed the pressure switch was bad (it was a cheap Home Depot one) so I replaced it and turned the power back on, all was well for 5 more months. This month we got back from a trip again and the same issue, got home, took a shower and the water just stopped.

At this point, I assumed our pressure tank was bad. It was installed in 2006 so it was almost 20 years old. This past weekend I replaced our pressure tank (with a bigger one as an upgrade), new pressure switch (name brand), new valves, etc. everything is new and good to go. Turned power on, tank built pressure to the 50 limit (on a 30/50 switch) and I have the inside tank pressure at 28 which is 2 below cut on. Now today, 3 days later. I was watering the flowers and the water just stopped.


I’m stumped now, I went down. Turned the power off, took the pressure switch off and put it back on. Turned the power back on and it kicked on. Mind you during the month before replacing the tank this happened about every 3-4 days. I would just unhook the pressure switch, connect it and it would work again.

What is causing the switch to just go on an “auto cut off”? It seems as if the switch is detecting below a specific psi and it causes it to just go in auto shutoff mode? The connectors just stick and do not cause the well to kick back on.

Anyone hear of an issue like this before? Really confused. Our well pump seems to be fine? Never had issues with short cycling, etc. builds pressure to 50, turns back on right below 30 and so on.

 

[RS]

Does the well have adaquate water in it? It sounds like you're running out of water and the switch had a low pressure cut off.

 

[Ajt116]

Does the well have adaquate water in it? It sounds like you're running out of water and the switch had a low pressure cut off.

Yes, never had issues with running out of water, no coloration, sediment etc. when it happened again yesterday, I had it reset within 5 minutes and the pump kicked back on and worked as normal. Was able to shower, etc after. I would say no issues with water.

It feels like to me it’s something with the switch, whether it’s electrical or not and something is not triggering the switch to turn on when it hits the 28-30 mark.

 

[Valveman]

You are describing the typical failure mode for a submersible pump. The average life of submersible pumps is 7 years. If you get 20 years of life a couple other people with heavier used systems and more cycling will only get 2 years life, which gets pretty close to a 7 year average. It is all about the cycling. A larger tank is a little bit of an upgrade because it reduces the cycling slightly. A real upgrade would be adding a Cycle Stop Valve to completely eliminate cycling when water is being used for some period of time.

What is happening is the auto reset overload in the motor is tripping. No matter how many times you click power on and off, it will just cool down and reset itself after a minute or two, and the pump seems to just magically come back on. You might replace the start cap and relay, that might help. But most likely you should get ready to replace the pump as it will quit the next time you have a house full of company on a holiday.

 

[Ajt116]

You are describing the typical failure mode for a submersible pump. The average life of submersible pumps is 7 years. If you get 20 years of life a couple other people with heavier used systems and more cycling will only get 2 years life, which gets pretty close to a 7 year average. It is all about the cycling. A larger tank is a little bit of an upgrade because it reduces the cycling slightly. A real upgrade would be adding a Cycle Stop Valve to completely eliminate cycling when water is being used for some period of time.

What is happening is the auto reset overload in the motor is tripping. No matter how many times you click power on and off, it will just cool down and reset itself after a minute or two, and the pump seems to just magically come back on. You might replace the start cap and relay, that might help. But most likely you should get ready to replace the pump as it will quit the next time you have a house full of company on a holiday.

Thanks! I guess really my only question is how say we are gone for 7 days, we come home the water works fine but then within a 5 minute shower it stopped. It’s almost like for it sitting a week and not being used it causes an issue as well?

Next time it happens, I may just let it sit for a bit to see if it actually comes back on. The problem is, I don’t think it will kick back on once the switch goes to almost a “kill switch” mode. The contact pins just stay in the contact position and will not let up. It is a switch without the bar to reset, if I try to pull back on the contact points and release it still does not kick the pump on. Which is why I disconnect and reconnect the pressure switch and it kicks back on.

One weird note too, when the pressure switch doesn’t trigger and the contacts on the switch connect to try and pull more water. Obviously it doesn’t but the lights kinda show a real slight “dim” like it’s trying to pull slight power but the pressure switch won’t let water come in.

I think this does have an auto low pressure cutoff, it’s a Pumptrol 30/50 without the bar switch to reset.

 

[RS]

Is the line or pipe that supplies pressure to the switch clear? If they partially plug it can cause this to happen.

 

[Ajt116]

Is the line or pipe that supplies pressure to the switch clear? If they partially plug it can cause this to happen.

Yes it’s a brand new brass 1/4 inch pipe

 

[Valveman]

If you have the M4 version of the FSG switch the lever on the side is the low pressure kill. And you are right the pump cannot magically come back on after the overloads reset until you lift that lever. Probably makes you think that is re-setting it but its not. Again, replace the start cap and relay if you have one as pumps fail on start and always fail on start without a good capacitor/relay.

Sorry, have had to give this bad news about pumps all my life.