Deep well apparently pumped out. Pump shut off. Need direction.

[butch]

Problem: Water out. Pump pressure down well below cut-in pressure. (Pressure switch does have safety cut-off switch to prevent pump burn out.)

I'm posting here in hopes of getting some advice on how to proceed. (If I don't figure this out soon, the Supreme Allied Commander will not be pleased, especially since it's laundry day. This is life or death for me.)

When I manually activate switch, it fires but pump does not cut on. I can hear the pump "gurgling" (250 ft. + down) as if it's trying to pump water but there is no water to pump.

Hint: Have heard an apparent leak in system, water spraying, near to where water line enters house. No evidence of leak behind wallboard. Assume leak may be in ground near wall, or maybe in outer cement block wall in same general area.

Have put off trying to track leak due to multiple other pressing issues. Water has been steady until today, though my wife, the Commander, has noted a weakening in pressure last couple of days.

Empirical data suggests the pump has drained the water down below submersible pump, which is about 20 feet or so higher than bottom of well.

Actions so far: I have disconnected power in hopes that the column of well water would fill back up high enough to pump. Waited about an hour, tried manual activation again. Same result: Pressure switch sends power to pump. I can hear apparent gurgling, but no pump cut in.

I would have thought that our well water column would recover fast enough to at least cover pump within an hour or so, but I'm not sure.

Not sure of our well water flow rate. It's not really impressively high, but it's always been sufficient.

So my immediate question: Does my provisional plan to allow enough time for well water to recover at least to pump level sound reasonable, to see if that is in fact the problem?

What's a reasonable time expectation for water column recovery here?

My hopeful plan would be to let water column rise enough to regain house pressure sufficient to find and repair leak, which may be right outside of wall and will need digging to trace.

Another hint: I pulled this well pump about a month ago because it stopped pumping. Was prepared to replace, but a avoided that: found and repaired leak in plastic pipe. Pumped fine afterwards. I would have preferred to replace all if the plastic feeder pipe...could not afford that at the moment.

I note this because I think it may be relevant context, but maybe not.

I think problem now is probably that mentioned above: water column maybe down below pump intake.

Any advice here VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.

Signed,
"The Doomed One."

 

[Valveman]

I think you just have a big leak. Measure the amps draw with a clip around amp meter. If the pump is drawing max amps it is pumping lots of water and you have a hole in the pipe. If the pump is drawing about half of full load amps the well is dry or the pump is worn out.

 

[butch]

I think you just have a big leak. Measure the amps draw with a clip around amp meter. If the pump is drawing max amps it is pumping lots of water and you have a hole in the pipe. If the pump is drawing about half of full load amps the well is dry or the pump is worn out.

Thanks so much. Very helpful. After seeing your comment to my earlier posted question, I went down to check voltage coming to the pressure switch and voltage going to the pump. To check the voltage to the pump, I again closed the switch points. I had manually closed the curcuit at the swtich numerous times already in effort to kick on the pump but previously never got any better result than the gurgling sound I noted above. (Pump pressure well below cut in pressure throughout all prior efforts to manually activate pump via the pressure switch.) However, lo and behold, this time the pump did cut in. At this point, I'm not sure why it worked this time. Getting water back is a big relief, but I'm still not out of the woods. I have to find the leak that maybe caused this problem, same leak mentioned above at the point in or just outside the wall basement wall. At least I have pressure now and can at least hear the leak again. I'll start digging next...my hunch now is that the leak must be in the cinder block wall or in the ground just beyond the wall.

As far as activating the pump successfully, I have two questions. Any wisdom that you may take time to briefly share here will be MUCH appreciated.

1) Pressure switch...maybe it's the problem. Switch is pretty new but it's been worked pretty hard already. Is a 30/50 switch...I had increased the cut out pressure to 55 lbs. I think. Replacing the pressure switch would have been my first "go to" on efforts to run down the problem here. However, a friend had suggested that it probably WAS NOT the switch. (No more inquiries to that expert.) In any event, I'm replacing the switch and am happy to do that simple, affordable fix over pulling the pump.

2) Possible issue here may be the water column having fallen below the pump intake???

I had hoped that if this was the problem, that the pump would drive water again once I allowed sufficient time for the well water to replenish. So I now know that there is water in the well today, but given the above mentioned pressure switch issue, I'm thinking that the water level was never the problem.

Any comment/guidance here much appreciated. Thanks for reading my novel here.

 

[SHEPLMBR]

check your pressure tank as well. If you hit the snifter valve on top and water comes out, iy is water logged and needs replacing.

 

[Valveman]

Volts don't tell you much. Amps say a lot. No amps means pump is not running. Low amps pumps runs bur not pumping water. Max amps pump is moving water somewhere.