keep losing water pressure

[Anonymous]

This problem has happened on and off for years – I sincerely hope one of you is able to give me some pointers. Getting a plumber in my rural area is one of those things that requires a reservation – three times I have taken off work and the plumber has never shown.

I can have great water pressure, but with repeated use like washing dishes, then flushing a toilet, etc. I will lose all pressure. I have to turn off electricity to the pump, wait about an hour or so, turn on electricity and manually have contacts touching to start the pump again. The symptoms repeat.

I have a small STA-RITE CON-AIRE controlled air water tank, which states on its label that the prssure should be just under the cut-in pressure. When I checked the air pressure in this tank, a lot of water also came out. Assuming that this has to have some kind of back-flow valve, I suspect the bladder may have busted, which is causing my problem.

Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much.

[Douglas Boaz1Participant]

I would say your suspusion is correct. Sounds like you lost your bladder, (not something you would want to do in front of company). Bladders are hard to replace, suggest you replace the entire tank. Happy Holidays

[GuestParticipant]

Don’t knoe how we got to the bladder being bad,if I read this right you are re-setting the electic contacts manualy?All the residential submersible pumps I have ever seen are 220 volts,sounds like your pressure control switch is not working,find a reliable plumber or well driller to fix it.This is not a do it yourself project,this repair mixes water and high voltage,things are not as simple as they first appear.Without being there to see the system my diagnoisis only a guess. Jim Cogger LMP

[Jerry PeckParticipant]

We got to the bladder because the question stated water came out the bladder’s air valve, meaning water is in the bladder.

I believe they have to reset the contacts manually, wait a couple of hours, etc. because the pump motor is overheating from the pump running constantly when water is being used. The thermal protection in the motor shuts off when the motor heats up so it doesn’t burn itself up, which is what is slowly happening anyway.

The pump motor shuts off because the thermal protection, when the motor becomes excessively hot, shuts it off. This continual overheating is detrimental to the life of the motor’s winding insulation and will eventually lead to the motor burning out.

[robalaParticipant]

If your expansion tank bladder has failed, this would result in your pump operating any time you were consuming water. Your pump would cycle every time you opened a faucet or flushed a toilet. It would shut off when you closed the faucet or when the toilet finished filling and the cut-out pressure was achieved.
It appears that your pressure switch may not be working properly, therefore letting your pump to continually run until it trips its thermal motor protection. After the pump sits idle them the thermal overload resets, but the pump should only start if the pressure switch has achieved the cut-in setting. You should NEVER need to manually close the contactors on a properly functioning pressure switch.
Have your system serviced and repaired by a competent and licensed contractor. Sounds to me like you need a new expansion tank and a new pressure switch. Good luck.

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