No water after "heavy" water use.

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yeto

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Hi,

I have a submersible pump/bladder tank system. Sometimes during heavy water use (both showers running at the same time) the water will stop completely without warning then after a few minutes it will come back full force. My plumber replaced the bladder tank which didn't make a difference. He says he is not sure what is causing the problem but thinks it may be the well/pump. He says he is not a well/pump plumber so he can't do anything else to help me.

Also, when the water stops I can hear water rushing into the hot water tank. After 15-30 seconds I no longer hear the water going into the hot water tank and a few minutes later the water is back to normal.

Would someone be able to offer some advice as to some things I can check to determine what is causing this problem?

Kind regards,
yeto
 
Mikey said:
When it "stops completely", is it a sudden stop, or a gradual stop?
Click to expand...

It is a sudden stop as if someone flipped a switch. It's "not" like the pressure is slowly reduced and then you have no water. It is all of a sudden.

Something I just thought of is that I have a water softener also.

Could the back-flow preventer on the hot water heater be the problem? I am thinking maybe it is somehow defective and is hard to open and will only let water in when there is high pressure.
 
yeto said:
3 handle shower faucets that have been in the house since 1982.
Click to expand...
Well, that rules out a very cool solution, so it's back to basics. I'm beginning to think your plumber was right; here's a theory: the submersible pump is stopping under prolonged load - maybe there's a thermal trip in it, or the level of water in the well drops below the pump; the pressure tank eventually runs out of pressure, and all water stops - both hot and cold, but the last gasp of the pressure tank puts some water in the water heater, but there's not enough pressure to make it to the showers; after a few minutes, the pump cools down and the thermal trip resets (or the well recovers), and viola! - water flow resumes.

One way to check deeper would be to monitor the current in the pump circuit. You should see current flow, then when the pump stops, no current. If the current drops slightly for a second or so after the water stops, it may be the well, not the pump, but I'm treading on thin technical ice here. Find out, if you can, exactly how the pump is wired (some can be wired for either 120VAC or 240 VAC), and the make and model of the pump (then you can find out what the current should be). If this were my problem, I'd hope for a bad pump.

Other useful details would be depth of the pump, and depth of water in the well. Ask around the neighborhood, to see how other wells compare. If yours is significantly shallower, you're more likely to be running out of water. No matter what, start looking for a well guy; yours is not the only well around, I'd bet, so somewhere out there there's a well guy. The local health department my have well completion records that would, perhaps, offer some clues as well.

Keep us posted.
 
Mikey said:
Keep us posted.
Click to expand...

I had my wife turn on both showers full blast while I was looking at the pump pressure gauge. It slowly when down to zero pressure so naturally there was no water. As soon as the pressure was at zero we could hear the hot water heater making a noise. We don't know if it was water running into the hot water heater or the elements boiling the water but as soon as the noise stopped the pressure immediately went back to 40. It didn't slowly go back to 40. It literally jumped from 0 to 40 in less than 1 second. All of this happened within a 5 to 10 minute time frame. My question is how can the water pressure go from 0 to 40 in less than 1 second as if someone flipped a switch? It seems like it would have gradually built back up to 40.

I am going to tap into the local water system later this week. This will isolate the hot water heater from the well pump, tank and water softener. I will let you know what happens.
 
Mikey said:
Are you sure the bladder tank was precharged properly?
Click to expand...

No, I am not sure. The plumbers are coming back later in the week to connect me to town water. I am going to get them to check it again as I still want the well system to work for washing the house etc.
 
UPDATE: I am now on city water. The losing water while in use issue has stopped. One thing that was happening while I was on well water was that I would hear "popping" inside the HOT water tank at different times during the day. The "popping" has also stopped. I am satisfied with the city water all except for the chlorine smell.

I still have the well pump connected to an outside spigot. I have removed the water softener. I want to be able to "see" when the pump is running. How would I connect my ohm meter to the pressure switch to tell when the pump is on or off?

Thank you in advance for any help,
yeto
 
That is not how I would go about " seeing if the pump is on " .

First of all , I am guessing you only use well water when you use the outside " spigot " ? Is the well in a well house ?

Wyr
God bless
 
I would connect a voltmeter across the terminals to the pump. 0 for off, 120/240 for on. Or, if the pump is remote from the spigot, connect a light in parallel with with the pump - light on, pump on.
 
WyrTwister said:
That is not how I would go about " seeing if the pump is on " .

First of all , I am guessing you only use well water when you use the outside " spigot " ? Is the well in a well house ?

Wyr
God bless
Click to expand...

Sorry, I should have let you know it is a submersible pump.
 
Mikey said:
I would connect a voltmeter across the terminals to the pump. 0 for off, 120/240 for on. Or, if the pump is remote from the spigot, connect a light in parallel with with the pump - light on, pump on.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I appreciate your help.
 
Where is the controler / electrical box for the pump , located ?

Wyr
God bless
 
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