pressure tank or water pump issue


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Old 08-03-16, 12:04 PM
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pressure tank or water pump issue

Hello:

Just bought a house in the country with a well system. I currently have a 1/3HP Shallow Well jet Pump with a Amtrol WX-203 - 32 Gallon Pressure Tank. When I'm water the yard the pump seems to kick on right away and will not shut off the whole entire time I'm watering the lawn. When I'm taking a shower this also occurs. I can fill the sink up to do the dishes and it usually will take a little bit to turn on but then it will run for a while just to fill the pressure tank up. I decided to test it and filled up a bucket of water to see how many gallons it would take before the pressure tank turned on and then timed it to see how long it would take before it turned off. I got 7.3125 gallons of water before it turned on and it took about 4.25 minutes to before the tank was full and the pump to shut off.

Can someone please give me some advice as this is all new. Its very frustrating because the pump seems to run all the time. I check the air pressure in the tank and that was about 35PSI when drained. there is a pressure gauge on the pump that goes to 50PSI and shuts off and runs down to about 32 or so and turn on.

Also the water pressure could be better. Kitchen water runs very slow, its adequate but could be better. When I'm running the sprinkler it only goes about half the capacity that it could put out. Might spray 6 feet in the air when the sprinkler can do 12 with the right pressure.


Any advice would be great.

Thanks.

Nate
 
  #2  
Old 08-03-16, 12:36 PM
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Getting 7 gallons of water before the pump turns on sounds about right. Taking 4+ minutes to fill the pressure tank and shut off is too long.

You want to have the air pressure in your pressure tank set to be 2-3 psi less than the pump cut in (turn on) pressure. You need an accurate air pressure gauge and an accurate gauge on the water system. Open a faucet and watch the gauge on the water system and notice when the pump turns on. That is the cut in pressure. Now that you know that you can set the air pressure in the tank. To check the air turn off your well pump and open a faucet until no more water comes out. Then check the air in the tank. Adjust the air pressure to be 2-3 psi less than the pumps cut in pressure.

Just to confirm. Do you have one or two hoses/pipes connecting the pump to your well?

How deep is your well? What is the static water level of the well (how high is the water in the well when you haven't used any water for a while)?
 
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Old 08-04-16, 05:53 AM
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Also, if the pump shuts off at 50psi, you should have very good pressure in the house when a tap is open. If you don't, look for a filter between the pressure tank and the house. Perhaps it is all clogged up and needs changing. You can remove it just to test if the pressure improves, assuming you have a filter. Also check for a valve that may not be completely open.

The theoretical maximum amount of water you will get from your pressure tank between cycles is 50% of the size of the tank, and no one will ever get the theoretical maximum. Any number between 25 to 30% of the tank size is a system that is set up well. You are pretty close to that zone. Set the air in the tank as Pilot mentioned and you may get a gallon or so more.

The 1.7 galllon's per minute from your pump seems a little low but it is only a 1/3 hp and you never mentioned how deep the well is. The deeper the well the less per minute of the flow until the well is so deep that the flow goes to zero gallons per minute. So until we know how high you are pumping the water, we cannot tell you if you pump is working to specification or not.
 
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Old 08-04-16, 07:13 AM
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As OptsyEagle points out, when your tank is at 50 psi pressure in house should be decent. However, the flow from your pump is so low that it is likely your pressure is closer to 30 most of the time, or even below if the pump can't keep up with demand. The fact that pump runs all the time just confirms that it can't keep up with demand. If you can supply the other info asked for above, we can help you determine if there is a problem or if you just need a bigger pump.
 
 

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