Well water temporary pressure drop

[DougK62]

I bought this house last May and at that time a new well was put in by the previous owner. Water pressure has been great since then - better then my brother's city water even!

This past Saturday night I noticed a large drop in water pressure. It was seemingly cut in half - very poor. It came on suddenly, and nothing out of the ordinary happened before when it was working fine. Obviously I'm pissed off, but it was late at night so I decided to go to sleep and see how it was in the morning. I get up in the morning and have the same poor water pressure. I checked a bunch of things out and ended up flipping the breaker for the well water pump. It was instantly fixed and I had my perfect water pressure back.

Has anyone else experienced something like this? I've never lived with well water before, so I don't know what's normal and what isn't. Since the well is new it's still under warranty for a couple more months. I'm wondering if this is something that'll need attention.

Thanks.

 

[Uppsala9496]

Could be that the pump is going out. Or the well is going dry. I've had both happen to me at separate times. Not fun. And not cheap.

 

[GeekDrew]

My family owns 3 farms + 1 lot, all of which use water wells... However, I've not experienced that exact issue (but I think I have everything else...). I do know, however, that it is not normal to experience that. It could be the pressure switch that tells the pump when to start/stop pumping water... could be the pump is actually malfunctioning...

I'm sure that there is a pressure gauge on or very near your water pressure tank... I would watch it for a few days, to see what pressure it's normally sitting at... I suppose it couldn't hurt to write it down. Then, if it happens again, you should be able to look at the same gauge and see what pressure it's at...

The *only* thing you did was reset the circuit breaker that powers the pump? If so, and you have had perfect water pressure since then, I would suspect that the problem is in either the pump or the pressure switch that starts/stops the pump... I strongly doubt that there's a problem with the well itself.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

I'd start with the pressure switch. Easiest and cheapest thing to replace at $15-30 or so (iirc) so start there. Any idiot could replace it in about 10 minutes max. If that doesn't fix it you probably need to get someone out there to look at the pump and test the wiring to it.

 

[Dogmeat]

How old is your pump? Also, it's good to know what kind of minerals you have in your water.

We've had components go bad in the controls and am dreading the day when the pump goes, which could be any time. Our well service company told us we are over the expected life of the type of pump we have.

I'd keep an eye on it and excersize the breaker once in a while. Also clean the contacts of the electrical components. Use some electricians grease to prevent corrosion after cleaning them.

 

[DougK62]

Yes, the *only* thing I did was reset the pump.

The well and everything attached to the well is all less then a year old - including the pump.

Where do I find the pressure switch at? I should mention that I don't have exposed parts like some other wells might. Everything is completely buried. The only thing I can see from all of the well stuff is the cap on the well. The pump is a submersible one and not something that I can physically check.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: DougK62
Yes, the *only* thing I did was reset the pump.

The well and everything attached to the well is all less then a year old - including the pump.

Where do I find the pressure switch at? I should mention that I don't have exposed parts like some other wells might. Everything is completely buried. The only thing I can see from all of the well stuff is the cap on the well. The pump is a submersible one and not something that I can physically check.

Right, that's the way most wells are... the pressure switch will more than likely be covered by a gray plastic cover, that's probably 2"x3"... it should be mounted on a pipe near your pressure tank, and there will also be wires running to it.

Contrary to what the above poster said, I would not recommend that you change the pressure switch yourself, given that you don't even know what it is... even moreso if you are not familiar with working with electric or plumbing. Since everything should be under warranty, you might want to have them do that.

I hadn't thought about cleaning the contacts on the pressure switch... we've never had an issue with that... but if his well is less than a year old, he has some major issues if that is already a problem.

 

[91TTZ]

Funny story about wells and well water.

My dad grew up on a farm and they had a well. He said the water was always cold and delicious. One day his dad asked him to help clean out the well. There were all kinds of dead rats, squirrels, and snakes in it. That delicious well water was water that the dead bodies of these animals were soaking in.

 

[DougK62]

Well I think I'm going to call the place that installed my well today and see what they say.

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Funny story about wells and well water.

My dad grew up on a farm and they had a well. He said the water was always cold and delicious. One day his dad asked him to help clean out the well. There were all kinds of dead rats, squirrels, and snakes in it. That delicious well water was water that the dead bodies of these animals were soaking in.

Didn't the water taste funny? Must've been an old well.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Funny story about wells and well water.

My dad grew up on a farm and they had a well. He said the water was always cold and delicious. One day his dad asked him to help clean out the well. There were all kinds of dead rats, squirrels, and snakes in it. That delicious well water was water that the dead bodies of these animals were soaking in.

For those of you who don't know any better, water wells are no longer designed the way they were back then

We recently had a well filled... it was several square feet wide, had all kinds of dead animals, junk in it... but then again, it had been abandoned over 40 years ago, just sitting under the porch of one of the houses

It's now infinitely harder for dead animals to get into wells than it was back then

 

[DeMeo]

Do you have any filters in the water line (or water softener)? If so, they can get clogged up and kill your pressure.

Another thing to check: Inside of the house, you should have a holding tank. The tank has a membrane in it, the bottom of the tank holds water and the top part of the tank is air pressurized. Somtimes, the membrane leaks and then you end up with water in both sections of the tank and that'll cause you problems. There should be a place on the top where you can check the pressure. It's a valve somewhat similar to a tire valve. You can check the pressure with a tire gaugae (on most, but not all). The valve is also uses to add air.

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: DeMeo
Do you have any filters in the water line (or water softener)? If so, they can get clogged up and kill your pressure.

Another thing to check: Inside of the house, you should have a holding tank. The tank has a membrane in it, the bottom of the tank holds water and the top part of the tank is air pressurized. Somtimes, the membrane leaks and then you end up with water in both sections of the tank and that'll cause you problems. There should be a place on the top where you can check the pressure. It's a valve somewhat similar to a tire valve. You can check the pressure with a tire gaugae (on most, but not all). The valve is also uses to add air.

I have no water softener, but I do have a filter for drinking water. These wouldn't explain why the pressure dropped so suddenly or why it came back when I tripped the pump.

My tank is not in the house - it's buried in the yard and it has nothing visible above the soil.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: DeMeo
Do you have any filters in the water line (or water softener)? If so, they can get clogged up and kill your pressure.

Another thing to check: Inside of the house, you should have a holding tank. The tank has a membrane in it, the bottom of the tank holds water and the top part of the tank is air pressurized. Somtimes, the membrane leaks and then you end up with water in both sections of the tank and that'll cause you problems. There should be a place on the top where you can check the pressure. It's a valve somewhat similar to a tire valve. You can check the pressure with a tire gaugae (on most, but not all). The valve is also uses to add air.

I have no water softener, but I do have a filter for drinking water. These wouldn't explain why the pressure dropped so suddenly or why it came back when I tripped the pump.

My tank is not in the house - it's buried in the yard and it has nothing visible above the soil.

Uhmmmm... has anyone else here *ever* seen a pressure tank underground? (Not trying to offend you, OP, but I've been a lot of places, and seen a lot of things, but I've never seen a water well *not* have a pressure tank inside the house.) It just doesn't make sense that it would be underground - they occasionally need human intervention, and that wouldn't be possible underground... I also can't think of any way that simply resetting power to the pump would solve a problem with the pressure tank; I'm assuming that the power cycle only took a few seconds... if so, I can't imagine that the pump stopping for that amount of time (assuming it was even running at the time) would make a significant enough pressure change in the tank to have caused/solved any problems...

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: DeMeo
Do you have any filters in the water line (or water softener)? If so, they can get clogged up and kill your pressure.

Another thing to check: Inside of the house, you should have a holding tank. The tank has a membrane in it, the bottom of the tank holds water and the top part of the tank is air pressurized. Somtimes, the membrane leaks and then you end up with water in both sections of the tank and that'll cause you problems. There should be a place on the top where you can check the pressure. It's a valve somewhat similar to a tire valve. You can check the pressure with a tire gaugae (on most, but not all). The valve is also uses to add air.

I have no water softener, but I do have a filter for drinking water. These wouldn't explain why the pressure dropped so suddenly or why it came back when I tripped the pump.

My tank is not in the house - it's buried in the yard and it has nothing visible above the soil.

Uhmmmm... has anyone else here *ever* seen a pressure tank underground? (Not trying to offend you, OP, but I've been a lot of places, and seen a lot of things, but I've never seen a water well *not* have a pressure tank inside the house.) It just doesn't make sense that it would be underground - they occasionally need human intervention, and that wouldn't be possible underground... I also can't think of any way that simply resetting power to the pump would solve a problem with the pressure tank; I'm assuming that the power cycle only took a few seconds... if so, I can't imagine that the pump stopping for that amount of time (assuming it was even running at the time) would make a significant enough pressure change in the tank to have caused/solved any problems...

I didn't even take a few seconds - I flipped it and then flipped it back right away. Poof - all better.

The tank is definitely underground. My house is on a slab, so it can't be in a basement. The whole house is only ~900sq.ft., so there's really no way that I could've overlooked it. I also recall the installer pointing to one of the dirt spots they left and saying it was there. All of this stuff is brand new, so maybe this is new technology? I don't know.

 

[MikeMike]

this is interesting.

we have well water at my house, water softner, filter, and something else (big, blue, tank looking thing) that i cant think of the name of.

as for where the pressure gauge is it it right where the pipes enter the house.

do you know where your pipes enter your house at? is their a guage underneath a cabinet or something, or is there a crawl space, etc anywhere in the house?

MIKE

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: DeMeo
Do you have any filters in the water line (or water softener)? If so, they can get clogged up and kill your pressure.

Another thing to check: Inside of the house, you should have a holding tank. The tank has a membrane in it, the bottom of the tank holds water and the top part of the tank is air pressurized. Somtimes, the membrane leaks and then you end up with water in both sections of the tank and that'll cause you problems. There should be a place on the top where you can check the pressure. It's a valve somewhat similar to a tire valve. You can check the pressure with a tire gaugae (on most, but not all). The valve is also uses to add air.

I have no water softener, but I do have a filter for drinking water. These wouldn't explain why the pressure dropped so suddenly or why it came back when I tripped the pump.

My tank is not in the house - it's buried in the yard and it has nothing visible above the soil.

Uhmmmm... has anyone else here *ever* seen a pressure tank underground? (Not trying to offend you, OP, but I've been a lot of places, and seen a lot of things, but I've never seen a water well *not* have a pressure tank inside the house.) It just doesn't make sense that it would be underground - they occasionally need human intervention, and that wouldn't be possible underground... I also can't think of any way that simply resetting power to the pump would solve a problem with the pressure tank; I'm assuming that the power cycle only took a few seconds... if so, I can't imagine that the pump stopping for that amount of time (assuming it was even running at the time) would make a significant enough pressure change in the tank to have caused/solved any problems...

I didn't even take a few seconds - I flipped it and then flipped it back right away. Poof - all better.

The tank is definitely underground. My house is on a slab, so it can't be in a basement. The whole house is only ~900sq.ft., so there's really no way that I could've overlooked it. I also recall the installer pointing to one of the dirt spots they left and saying it was there. All of this stuff is brand new, so maybe this is new technology? I don't know.

Well, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert about water wells, so I guess anything is possible... maybe you don't have one. There's no tank near your water heater?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
this is interesting.

we have well water at my house, water softner, filter, and something else (big, blue, tank looking thing) that i cant think of the name of.

as for where the pressure gauge is it it right where the pipes enter the house.

do you know where your pipes enter your house at? is their a guage underneath a cabinet or something, or is there a crawl space, etc anywhere in the house?

MIKE

I would assume that the big blue thing is your pressure tank (most of them *are* blue)... but I would hope you also have a water heater... they're usually white.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
this is interesting.

we have well water at my house, water softner, filter, and something else (big, blue, tank looking thing) that i cant think of the name of.

as for where the pressure gauge is it it right where the pipes enter the house.

do you know where your pipes enter your house at? is their a guage underneath a cabinet or something, or is there a crawl space, etc anywhere in the house?

MIKE

I would assume that the big blue thing is your pressure tank (most of them *are* blue)... but I would hope you also have a water heater... they're usually white.

yea, that might be the pressure tank heh.

as for the water heater, yea we have that (my dad is manager of a plumbing supply company) nice 80 gallon, gas heater from bradford white. gunna hook it up to have radiant heat in our back room. that should be nice.

MIKE

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
as for where the pressure gauge is it it right where the pipes enter the house.

do you know where your pipes enter your house at? is their a guage underneath a cabinet or something, or is there a crawl space, etc anywhere in the house?

MIKE

The water comes in under the sink in the kitchen. There is a hole knocked out in the slab that it comes up through. I'll do some more reading and then look around for the pressure guage when I get home.

Originally posted by: GeekDrew
Well, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert about water wells, so I guess anything is possible... maybe you don't have one. There's no tank near your water heater?

Nope - no tank by my water heater. I'll check the stack of paperwork that I got from them when it was done, but I'm fairly certain that I do have a tank and that it's buried.

 

[Dead3ye]

In my 38 years I have never come across a pressure tank being buried and inaccessable. I live in a rural area and almost everybody has a well or at least used to and the pressure tank was located in the basement or a utility closest.

They way you describe the pressure problems is weird. Unless there is a new "pump system" that I never heard of, this type of pressure problem could not be caused by any one part of the pump system.

Shallow jet pumps or submersible pumps operate the same way. The are told to turn on by the pressure switch which is usually set up for 25/55 or 30/60 psi. The holding (pressure) tank has air pressure in it. When the pressure slides below 25psi, the pump kicks on and pumps water into the tank until the pressure reaches 55psi. There is no way just flipping the breaker (reset) would cause a instantaneous pressure increase. It takes about 30-60 seconds for the pressure to come back up.

 

[DougK62]

Originally posted by: Dead3ye
In my 38 years I have never come across a pressure tank being buried and inaccessable. I live in a rural area and almost everybody has a well or at least used to and the pressure tank was located in the basement or a utility closest.

They way you describe the pressure problems is weird. Unless there is a new "pump system" that I never heard of, this type of pressure problem could not be caused by any one part of the pump system.

Shallow jet pumps or submersible pumps operate the same way. The are told to turn on by the pressure switch which is usually set up for 25/55 or 30/60 psi. The holding (pressure) tank has air pressure in it. When the pressure slides below 25psi, the pump kicks on and pumps water into the tank until the pressure reaches 55psi. There is no way just flipping the breaker (reset) would cause a instantaneous pressure increase. It takes about 30-60 seconds for the pressure to come back up.

It may have been 30 seconds or so after flipping it that I tried the faucet.

I've been reading online and it doesn't sound like a buried tank is all that uncommon - I'm finding references to it all over.

 

[Dead3ye]

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: Dead3ye
In my 38 years I have never come across a pressure tank being buried and inaccessable. I live in a rural area and almost everybody has a well or at least used to and the pressure tank was located in the basement or a utility closest.

They way you describe the pressure problems is weird. Unless there is a new "pump system" that I never heard of, this type of pressure problem could not be caused by any one part of the pump system.

Shallow jet pumps or submersible pumps operate the same way. The are told to turn on by the pressure switch which is usually set up for 25/55 or 30/60 psi. The holding (pressure) tank has air pressure in it. When the pressure slides below 25psi, the pump kicks on and pumps water into the tank until the pressure reaches 55psi. There is no way just flipping the breaker (reset) would cause a instantaneous pressure increase. It takes about 30-60 seconds for the pressure to come back up.

It may have been 30 seconds or so after flipping it that I tried the faucet.

I've been reading online and it doesn't sound like a buried tank is all that uncommon - I'm finding references to it all over.

Well then they must be burying them then. They aren't doing here where I live, yet.

Is your breaker tripped when you reset it?

 

[Dead3ye]

I should add this:

If your breaker is being tripped and you have to reset it, that's a big problem. Either your pump is bad or the wires leading down to it are shorting. Either way, you are going to have to have the pump pulled (not a fun job).

I had this happen to me. The wires running down to the pump were rubbing against the well casing and it wore the insulation off. The idiots that intalled the well only put two protectors on the water line leading down the casing which run 100ft down the well. They prevent the water line and wires from rubbbing on the casing. I pulled the pump myself and replaced the wires and added more protectors. Luckily the water line was alright. If yours is still under warranty, I would definately have them fix it, especially if your well is over 100ft deep. Sometimes the well installer will mark on the underside of the well cap how deep it is.

 

[DougK62]

My well is 115ft - that I remember.

The breaker didn't trip by itself. Since everything for my well is buried except for the cap I can't physically check things out - so out of frustration I flipped the breaker because it was about the only thing I COULD do that would impact the well at all. I just lucked out and it actually worked.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Dead3ye

Originally posted by: DougK62

Originally posted by: Dead3ye
In my 38 years I have never come across a pressure tank being buried and inaccessable. I live in a rural area and almost everybody has a well or at least used to and the pressure tank was located in the basement or a utility closest.

They way you describe the pressure problems is weird. Unless there is a new "pump system" that I never heard of, this type of pressure problem could not be caused by any one part of the pump system.

Shallow jet pumps or submersible pumps operate the same way. The are told to turn on by the pressure switch which is usually set up for 25/55 or 30/60 psi. The holding (pressure) tank has air pressure in it. When the pressure slides below 25psi, the pump kicks on and pumps water into the tank until the pressure reaches 55psi. There is no way just flipping the breaker (reset) would cause a instantaneous pressure increase. It takes about 30-60 seconds for the pressure to come back up.

It may have been 30 seconds or so after flipping it that I tried the faucet.

I've been reading online and it doesn't sound like a buried tank is all that uncommon - I'm finding references to it all over.

Well then they must be burying them then. They aren't doing here where I live, yet.

Is your breaker tripped when you reset it?

They aren't burying them around here either... we just had a new well drilled on one of the farms, and we just had all of the equipment (pump, pressure tank, and controls) replaced on another well. Maybe it's a regional thing? I see that Dead3ye is in PA... probably similar territory as around here. May I ask what region you live in, DougK62?