Hello, folks!
I've been having some issues that I'm hoping some folks here might be able to help me solve. The house has had low water pressure since I bought the place roughly 5 years ago. The toilets have to wait for several minutes to repressurize before we can flush them again. And most annoyingly, the LG Washing Machine frequently gives an "IE" error, which means insufficient water or water pressure (despite having no obstructions and clean water filters).
I went down to the filter closet in the basement to investigate, and noticed the pressure gage showed 0 psi. After about 20 seconds the pump turned on and I watched the pressure reading on the gage slowly increase from 0 psi to roughly 20 psi and then shut off again. So my first thought was perhaps the pressure switch simply needs to be recalibrated. It seems the pressure switch had a low pressure (turn on) setpoint of 0 psi, and a high pressure (turn off) setpoint of approximately 20 psi. So I opened the breaker to the well pump, removed the cover to the temperature switch, and proceeded to adjust the setpoints. I made small adjustments and then tested it again and each time I saw a small improvement of roughly 5psi on the low and high setpoints after adjusting both screws. This is a standard temperature switch (picture attached).
Each time after making 4-8 turns of the screw and then closing the breaker again, I'd observe the pump turn on and the pressure reading on the gage slowly climb, a little higher each time before shutting off again. This last time I watched the pressure climb slowly up to about 50 PSI, and then suddely the gage spiked from 50 psi to maxing out at 100 psi inside of about 5 seconds. It startled me so I jumped up and opened the breaker again (within about 7 seconds) of noticing the gage spike. Unfortunately, simultaneously when the gage spiked, a drain of some kind started dumping water out onto my basement floor. Refer to the Drain Picture attached. I circled the location where the water dumped out onto the floor.
At first I thought this must be a pressure relief valve, but after searching for a replacement online, I notice this doesn't look like any pressure relief valves I can find online. So I don't even know if this is a pressure relief valve. Does anyone know what it is? It looks to me like a spigot screwed on a female threaded tee sticking out from the main pipe section where the gage and pressure switches are installed (all one assembly piece).
The problem is even after opening the faucets and letting the water system completely depressurize, to the point where the water stops dripping from that drain in my picture attached with this post, when I close the breaker and allow the well pump to repressurize the system, that drain starts dripping and eventually pouring water out onto the floor again. It starts out as a drip at about 5 psi and gradually increases to a open faucet flow rate at pressures around 20 psi. I don't know how to stop the water from draining out that spigot.
I tried depressurizing the system again so I could try to unscrew that spigot thing to take it down to hardware store to ask if they could tell me what it is and buy a replacement, but it seems to be stuck on there. I'm guessing the hardwater calcium deposits have siezed it in place and it'll need to be cut off.
So there's apparently more than one mystery going on here. First off, I can't explain why the pressure suddenly climbed from 50 psi to 100 psi. Second, I don't have any idea what that drain is directly beneath the pressure gage and why it won't stop draining anytime I introduce pressure to the water system by closing the breaker to the well pump. If it is some kind of uncommon pressure relief valve, shouldn't it close automatically and not open again until it reaches its manufactured open setpoint? Can anyone tell me what it is so I can buy a replacement?
Any insights anyone can provide would be immensely appreciated. Thank you for your support!
I've been having some issues that I'm hoping some folks here might be able to help me solve. The house has had low water pressure since I bought the place roughly 5 years ago. The toilets have to wait for several minutes to repressurize before we can flush them again. And most annoyingly, the LG Washing Machine frequently gives an "IE" error, which means insufficient water or water pressure (despite having no obstructions and clean water filters).
I went down to the filter closet in the basement to investigate, and noticed the pressure gage showed 0 psi. After about 20 seconds the pump turned on and I watched the pressure reading on the gage slowly increase from 0 psi to roughly 20 psi and then shut off again. So my first thought was perhaps the pressure switch simply needs to be recalibrated. It seems the pressure switch had a low pressure (turn on) setpoint of 0 psi, and a high pressure (turn off) setpoint of approximately 20 psi. So I opened the breaker to the well pump, removed the cover to the temperature switch, and proceeded to adjust the setpoints. I made small adjustments and then tested it again and each time I saw a small improvement of roughly 5psi on the low and high setpoints after adjusting both screws. This is a standard temperature switch (picture attached).
Each time after making 4-8 turns of the screw and then closing the breaker again, I'd observe the pump turn on and the pressure reading on the gage slowly climb, a little higher each time before shutting off again. This last time I watched the pressure climb slowly up to about 50 PSI, and then suddely the gage spiked from 50 psi to maxing out at 100 psi inside of about 5 seconds. It startled me so I jumped up and opened the breaker again (within about 7 seconds) of noticing the gage spike. Unfortunately, simultaneously when the gage spiked, a drain of some kind started dumping water out onto my basement floor. Refer to the Drain Picture attached. I circled the location where the water dumped out onto the floor.
At first I thought this must be a pressure relief valve, but after searching for a replacement online, I notice this doesn't look like any pressure relief valves I can find online. So I don't even know if this is a pressure relief valve. Does anyone know what it is? It looks to me like a spigot screwed on a female threaded tee sticking out from the main pipe section where the gage and pressure switches are installed (all one assembly piece).
The problem is even after opening the faucets and letting the water system completely depressurize, to the point where the water stops dripping from that drain in my picture attached with this post, when I close the breaker and allow the well pump to repressurize the system, that drain starts dripping and eventually pouring water out onto the floor again. It starts out as a drip at about 5 psi and gradually increases to a open faucet flow rate at pressures around 20 psi. I don't know how to stop the water from draining out that spigot.
I tried depressurizing the system again so I could try to unscrew that spigot thing to take it down to hardware store to ask if they could tell me what it is and buy a replacement, but it seems to be stuck on there. I'm guessing the hardwater calcium deposits have siezed it in place and it'll need to be cut off.
So there's apparently more than one mystery going on here. First off, I can't explain why the pressure suddenly climbed from 50 psi to 100 psi. Second, I don't have any idea what that drain is directly beneath the pressure gage and why it won't stop draining anytime I introduce pressure to the water system by closing the breaker to the well pump. If it is some kind of uncommon pressure relief valve, shouldn't it close automatically and not open again until it reaches its manufactured open setpoint? Can anyone tell me what it is so I can buy a replacement?
Any insights anyone can provide would be immensely appreciated. Thank you for your support!
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