Do I have a partial pipe blockage?

[Combeas]

I feel like my pipe that runs from my well to my house is partially blocked, but I didn't know if that was even possible. I figured that if water could break through a blockage, it would eventually clear it out or the blockage would simply stop water completely. Here we go.

I have an old well system. I have the pump and the bladder tank above ground in a doghouse looking thing approximately 30 feet from the house. It has a heater in it to keep the pipes from freezing. I replaced the pump a couple of years ago because it stopped running.

Water pressure dropped a couple of months ago to the point where I need to put tape on half of the shower head for it to shoot water out instead of just drip down. I assumed the pump was going bad again so I was going to wait until it got real bad to fix it.

The water pressure usually starts decent when turned on and they slows way down after about 2 minutes, but we still get water. turn the water off and wait a couple of minutes and repeat the process. Now the water stops almost completely and I have to turn it off and wait a couple of minutes.

I went to the doghouse and I noticed that I still had 45psi on the gauges. I went in the house and turned the faucet on in the kitchen and the water runs, slows, and stops. I left the faucet on and I go back outside and the gauge has 40psi and is dropping very slowly. I stayed out there for 15 minutes just to watch the gauge drop to 20psi and the pump kicks on and goes up to 48ish psi. I go in the house and the water is still just trickling. I turned the water off for a couple of minutes and then turned in back on and it runs for a couple of minutes.

I went to my basement and turned on the water spigot where the pipe comes into the house from the pump and it runs about 2 1/2 gallons of water before it stops to a trickle. I haven't noticed any color changes in the water. I have no water softener, but the problem seems to come from before the water runs into the house anyway.

I should also note that you can hear air shooting out when the water is turned back on, even if It doesn't run completely dry before I shut it off.

Sorry about the book, I just like throwing my information out there all in one shot. Is this a clogged pipe, or is there something else I can't think of causing all this?

 

[Valveman]

I am guessing you have a hole in the pipe down at the pump. 20/40 switch tells me this is probably an air over water type tank, and the air volume control is letting out the excess air or you would see air in the house faucets.

 

[Combeas]

Sorry, a few things I missed when I sent this post. I was talking about turning the faucet back on when I wrote this:

"I should also note that you can hear air shooting out when the water is turned back on, even if It doesn't run completely dry before I shut it off."

It'll run a little water, then air, then water, then an air/watery mix. I don't hear air coming from the tank.

I do not have a great deal of knowledge in this area, but I am not sure what an air over water tank is. I do know that the only way I could adjust the bladder tank is to hook up an air compressor the the air nipple on it. I have seen setups where there is a little box that controls the pump cycle and they called it a pressure switch. I don't think I have one unless it was built onto the pump. The pump plugs directly into the wall and the only gauge i have is in the line between the pump and the bladder tank.

With that being said, I appreciate the advice. I have a couple of questions. If there was a hole in the pipe, wouldn't the pump loose the ability to pull water up completely? The air volume control, would it let the excess air out slowly or whould I be able to hear it if I was standing by it?

To resummarize my issue: I can have 40psi and the pump, and the water at the house will run enough to fill up a gallon jug and then stop to a few drips per second. No air, no water, nothing. I can shut the faucet off for a minute or two and it seems to build the pressure back up for another gallon of water and then it slows to a few drips again. When I say faucet, I guess I mean water to the whole house in general. It does the same exact thing at the water spigot in my line immediately after entering the house in my basement. I can leave the water on in the house and go outside to the pump and my gauge very very slowly goes down until the pump kicks back on. I go into the house after it just recharged the line and I still have a few drips. I shut the water off in the house and then go back to the pump and the gauges still goes down very very slowly.

 

[Combeas]

Update:

Remember the doghouse looking thing that the pump and bladder tank is in? Well it also has a line that runs just outside of itself that you can hook a garden hose to. The part that was outside was frozen so I could not check the pressure there but, I just thawed it out and the water flys out of that spigot so fast that the pump can't push past 20psi. It has excellent water flow.

My thoughts:
The pump is fine considering the fact I can get all kinds of water at the spigot that is connected to the doghouse.
My house line is the same line as that spigot, it T's just before the spigot, so it would seem I loose all pressure somewhere between where the house line goes in the ground after the pump - and where the line comes out of the cement wall in my basement.

New questions:
Losing water pressure over months made me think that the line was slowly building sediment up and constricting water flow. Is this a good guess, or could the pressure in the system just not be strong enough to drive water 6 feet down - 30 feet over - and 6 feet back up again? I think bladder tanks are supposed to have air in them and I am wondering if maybe mine died. If so, should the pump be strong enough itself to pump water to the house? I have no fast way of adding air to the tank to test it.

It seems like the pressure in my house seeps in very slowly. I thought about buying a 119 gallon precharged 38psi bladder and installing that in the basement. This would be my 2nd bladder tank, but it would be past the assumed partially blocked line between the pump and basement. My theory is that it will act just like the water in the house, except I will have 119 gallons before loseing pressure instead of 1 before I get the very slow dripping. Then I can wait until the ground is thawed before I go digging a new line from the house to the pump.

I am sorry for writing so much, but I don't want to replace a pump again if I don't have to, or buy a 2nd bladder tank if it is not going to do any good.

Thanks in advance

 

[Valveman]

I am confused. Maybe you could post a couple of pictures?

 

[speedbump]

That 119 gallon tank doesn't really hold 119 gallons. It's more like 35 gallons. It would give you more pressure for a little while but I would think fixing the problem would be the cheapest and best way to go. I know frost is a problem for digging, but there are ways to thaw the ground out if you needed to. For that matter you could have an excavator with a backhoe and a frost tooth come out and dig it cheaper than you can buy one of those tanks.

 

[SHEPLMBR]

The air pressure in your tank should be 2psi less than the cut on pressure of your pressure switch. So if you have a 40/60 switch the psi in your tank should be 38.

 

[Valveman]

If you have a blockage, a second pressure tank after the blockage is not a good idea. The pump will have to cycle on/off several times filling the first tank, as the first tank will slowly drain to the second tank until it is also full.

 

[Stack2]

I'm thinking you have a pressure (bladder tank) issue. Have you checked the pressure in it. Is it maybe getting waterlogged?