2-Line Jet Pump Runs for 7 Minutes, poor water supply

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coltontvb

coltontvb

Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2022
Messages
10
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5
Location
Canada Ontari0
To begin, I am new here and had a great time looking around for answers, everyone seems extremely helpful!

Situation:
I have a 7 year old 2 Line Jet Pump which is a Franklin FCVJ07CI in a 45 foot dug well that has a 4 foot cribbing with about another 15-20 feet to the house. This pump supplies a 20 Gallon (older Red Lion R20) pressure tank with a 30/50psi switch on it.
Pump Specs

According to these specs I should be able to pump around 5GPM and the Tank has a 6.8G drawback

Problem:
The pump runs for nearly 7 minutes a cycle and will turn on again after the water runs from the shower for around 45 seconds to 1 minute. If the water is running for too long (over 15 minutes from the shower, or 5ish minutes from a garden hose, the water will pulsate then sputter out completely. I have NEVER had to reprime it, it always just comes back.

Things I've Tried:
I have checked all fittings and joints that I can see inside the well and at the pump, replaced all the gear clamps with stainless steel ones (some were sort of nasty) but no signs of leaking, and replaced the pressure switch. I did notice a small amount of air in the water line that goes from the pump to the pressure switch (its a clear hose) which made me wonder if the pump is drawing air.
Another thing to note, when this happened last, I ran out to my well climbed down and took a look at the foot valve and it was still at least 5 feet in the water so the well isn't running dry.

I am at the point now where if I can't either find the leak or fix whatever else is going wrong that I'll just put a submersible in it and be done with.
 
Valveman said:
Sure sounds like you are pumping the well dry. Did it have time to recover 5' before you got to the well to check?
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I ran out to the well the second it happened and I had it set up to climb down right away. (1 minute max to go check) maybe it can recover 4 foot cribbing in that time? I dnno I am not a professional, I've also never had to reprime it, it always comes back on its own.
 
Valveman said:
If not, maybe you have a hole in the pipe close to the water level?
Click to expand...
Possibly. I think I am going to pull the foot valve assembly up and take a look at it and possibly just replace my jet pump with a submersible. Could the pump itself be aerating?
 
The pump can aerate if the intake is completely blocked. Most likely you have a suction leak. Finding it can be a problem. A submersible is much less problematic as long as you don't let it cycle on and off too much. Submersibles pump a lot more volume and pressure, which causes the pump to cycle on and off a lot. Adding a Cycle Stop Valve can be advantageous, especially when switching from a jet pump to a sub.
 
Valveman said:
The pump can aerate if the intake is completely blocked. Most likely you have a suction leak. Finding it can be a problem. A submersible is much less problematic as long as you don't let it cycle on and off too much. Submersibles pump a lot more volume and pressure, which causes the pump to cycle on and off a lot. Adding a Cycle Stop Valve can be advantageous, especially when switching from a jet pump to a sub.
Click to expand...
Great advice! I was going to ask what I should expect if I do go submersible. I found a franklin 1/2hp that stands about 3 feet tall and will hook straight up to my current suction line and my well currently has 7ft of water in it (more than enough to accommodate the pump). I'll have to replace the t-connector on my pressure tank to accommodate a pressure switch because the switch is currently on my pump so my questions are: Where does the Cycle Stop Valve get installed, and do I need to put a stand on my sub pump?
 
Hang the pump from the elbow/tee on the short pipe where the motor is a foot off the bottom of the well. Use a flow inducer sleeve on the pump. The CSV1A goes between the elbow/tee on that pipe the pump is hanging on and the pressure tank. The CSV1A has 3 extra ports, any of which you can use to install the pressure switch. No extra tee needed.

The 1/2HP pump needs to be the 10 GPM series. Also, a lot of people are using a 1HP, 33 GPM Hallmark because they are cheap. So far, so good, as far as I can tell, especially for that price.

shroud 3 pics sized.jpg

LOW YIELD WELL_SUB_PK1A.jpg
 
UPDATE:

The Submersible pump is installed, a new gate valve installed, new pressure tank and all new fittings throughout (just to be sure).

Some problems I found while dismantling my two-pipe jet pump installation were:
  1. Pressure tank was water logged, I attempted to empty it and it wouldn't empty completely, yet no water came out of the Schrader valve until I tipped it upside down.
  2. Foot valve screen was probably 80% plugged with rust. Interestingly enough I never had rust in my water.
So not only was it working harder to pull water through that foot valve it also had to fight a water logged pressure tank! My water pressure has never been better, I can have an hour long shower and run my washing machine at the same time if I wanted to and all in all everything only cost me about 750 dollars Canadian! Thank you tons @Valveman !
 
The bladder or diaphragm in pressure tanks is destroyed from the pump cycling on and off too much. With an even larger pump the cycling will be accentuated, making a CSV even more important.
 
If the water level in your well is that low you really shouldn't be taking hour long showers, unless it maintains that level while the pump is running. Your not that far form running out of water,
 
RS said:
If the water level in your well is that low you really shouldn't be taking hour long showers, unless it maintains that level while the pump is running. Your not that far form running out of water,
Click to expand...
I said "If I wanted to" that I could. There is a minimum of 500 gallons of usable water without taking into consideration recovery. At 10GPM per minute I could theoretically run it for 50minutes straight out of the top of the pump without running out. 🤷‍♂️ Not that I'd ever intentionally do that, nor would I have an hour long shower lol.

To give you a reference this house is a year round home that is winterized every winter. We are snow birds from Canada and travel during the winter, it is just myself and my wife and use verry little water. Two 5-10minute showers a day (one each), a load of laundry on the weekend in our frontload washers that use very little water, the dishwasher also runs on the weekend. Other than that it is the basic household usage (like separate dishes and washing hands/flushing toilet)
 
10 GPM would be a big shower. However, I have helped with showers up to 25 GPM. Most showers are only 2.5 GPM, which means the 500 gallon storage in the well would let you take a shower for 3 hours if needed. I firmly believe if a person should be able to, and the pump system should be capable of supplying a shower for a month if you wanted to do so. And you could if your well recovers at 3 GPM and you don't cycle the pump to death.
 
Haha yeah my shower is roughly 2gpm from the shower head with my old pump, so maybe a bit more now with added pressure but I doubt much. Either way, I am very excited to have water that I can use now without much worry, I am super appreciative of your help @Valveman . It is super strange to not hear my pump under the house anymore!
 
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