Pump is clicking on & off repeatedly

[Ray]

Okay, thanks to you guys, I just got one problem solved, but now I have a new one. After hooking my pump up to the river, filling it & the pipe with water, and then trying to get it to prime, the pump just 'cycles,' with the pressure switch quickly and repeatedly clicking on and off.

I am just trying to hook up to the river to water the lawns, veggie garden, and flower beds.

Just to fill in the details for you, here's the setup and what I've done: 1) The foot valve was immersed in the river, held down by being tied to a cinder block and covered with a fine-mesh screen, then, after being filled with river water and being 'burped' to remove any air pockets, it was connected to the pump's input. 2) The pump, the pressure tank (The pump's output is connected to a pressure tank in the pumphouse) and its output pipe lead to one of those blue yard hydrants. 3) These were all filled by connecting the yard hydrant (which was turned on) to a hose from a spigot on the outside of the house. 4 ) After seeing the pressure gauge on the pump steadily rise to about 50 lb.s of pressure, I disconnected it from the yard hydrant. 4) When I turned the power on, the pump started, but immediately began to click on & off with the pressure switch opening and closing about once a second. What's going on?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MicEd69]

To what pressure did you pre-charge the pressure tank? It sounds like your pump is deadheading into a closed system with no pressure tank. Make sure the pressure tank isn't valved off.

 

[Valveman]

Like MicEd said you could have a bad tank or too much air in the tank. But normally this happens because the pressure switch is too far from the pressure tank.

 

[RS]

Like Mic Ed said, check the preload in the tank, if that doesn't fix it, I have solved that problem by adding a second pressure tank right at the pump.