OverseasSoul
New Member
Would appreciate any help with our well issues. We have a 630ft 6" well yielding 2 GPM with the pump depth set at 500FT, and water level at 70ft. We have a WellTrol 44G pressure tank. Since 2005 it produced the sweetest water without needing any filtration or any intervention. About 2 years ago we did notice some fine black and grey particles were clogging the filters on our faucets so I installed a small iSpring 100micron sediment filter on the outlet side in our well house. When I dried and looked at what was collected by the filter, it appeared to be minute black shavings and small grey fibers, and I thought they were coming from a pump that was nearing the end of its life. Sure enough, one afternoon it failed completely and I had to emergently call a local well and pump service that fitted a new stainless Schaefer 5GPM, 1.5HP 2 wire pump at considerable expense. It was quite a deal hauling out 500 ft of black plastic well pipe, spacers, wire, and the pump itself, but 4 of us did it. The well was shocked and after 24 hours I flushed the well, taking out about 2000 gallons over 2 days, learning a lot about the drawdown and refilling capacity of the well, and how the pump would react. I used a flow meter to watch the output of the chlorinated water flush- after taking out about 200 gallons ( and calculating that the well has about 630 gallons above the pump), the pump settled down to a steady 3.6 GPM via my hose and standpipe. All seemed fine.
Except there was still the same sediment in the filter, much more of it. I burned some of the dried debris from the filter, and it burned like plastic, so I suspected the pressure tank as the source, but certainly a plastic component someplace in the system. So yesterday I set up a test to see where the sediment was coming from, well or tank. I turned off the pump and emptied the tank via my hose/standpipe and flow meter. It ran off 31 gallons, which seemed about right. I then turned the pump back on ( with the tank empty) and ran it via another hose and a faucet that's placed right at the top of the well casing and before the tank - that hose ended in another filter, where I hoped to capture any sediment coming up just from the pump itself. It ran, but only for about 30 seconds, and then the pump cut out all by itself, even with power still provided by the pressure switch, which I noticed was cycling 30/68 psi. When I watched the pump cycle again at the pressure switch, it did so in bursts, stopping about 3 times on the way up from 30psi to 68psi. I then measured the pressure in the pressure tank when empty - 8 psi, so I pumped it up to 28 psi. The water level in it seems to come about 2/3rds up the tank - I can tell by the condensation on the side of the tank. There was no water coming out of the tank valve.
So now I am concerned about my new pump - it only seems to want to run for 30 seconds or so, even when isolated from the pressure tank. If I just run my hose with the whole system open, I get about 40 gallons at full pressure as the pressure tank empties and the pump kicks in, and then suddenly the water cuts off as the pump cuts off for no good reason.
Does anyone have any ideas about what's going on? What is the debris from? Why is the new pump cutting off when there is still power coming from the pressure switch? I've called my well company who are great people, but the owner is sick and her right-hand guy has his own family emergency, so I am on my own.
Except there was still the same sediment in the filter, much more of it. I burned some of the dried debris from the filter, and it burned like plastic, so I suspected the pressure tank as the source, but certainly a plastic component someplace in the system. So yesterday I set up a test to see where the sediment was coming from, well or tank. I turned off the pump and emptied the tank via my hose/standpipe and flow meter. It ran off 31 gallons, which seemed about right. I then turned the pump back on ( with the tank empty) and ran it via another hose and a faucet that's placed right at the top of the well casing and before the tank - that hose ended in another filter, where I hoped to capture any sediment coming up just from the pump itself. It ran, but only for about 30 seconds, and then the pump cut out all by itself, even with power still provided by the pressure switch, which I noticed was cycling 30/68 psi. When I watched the pump cycle again at the pressure switch, it did so in bursts, stopping about 3 times on the way up from 30psi to 68psi. I then measured the pressure in the pressure tank when empty - 8 psi, so I pumped it up to 28 psi. The water level in it seems to come about 2/3rds up the tank - I can tell by the condensation on the side of the tank. There was no water coming out of the tank valve.
So now I am concerned about my new pump - it only seems to want to run for 30 seconds or so, even when isolated from the pressure tank. If I just run my hose with the whole system open, I get about 40 gallons at full pressure as the pressure tank empties and the pump kicks in, and then suddenly the water cuts off as the pump cuts off for no good reason.
Does anyone have any ideas about what's going on? What is the debris from? Why is the new pump cutting off when there is still power coming from the pressure switch? I've called my well company who are great people, but the owner is sick and her right-hand guy has his own family emergency, so I am on my own.
