House Water Pressure

flyultralite

Hi All, my water is drawn from a 20 foot well via a Jet Pump. Can someone help me configure my pump to activate at a higher pressure. As of now the water basically comes to a stop out of the taps then the pump will kick on resuming pressure. I hope this makes sense to someone, cause its the best way I can explain it, lol. Thanks for any help!

FatAugie

So let me understand you, you have pressure when you open the tap and it eventually goes to nothing before the pump then kicks in and recharges the system? It kicks off OK when it reaches the high limit?

Go to the pump and there should be a pressure switch somewhere either hanging off the side or by your tank....it should be squarish to rectangular shaped about 4" x 5" or so. There should be a way to adjust up the cut in pressure, either by a screw or something.


Under this cover where the adjustment is, you have high voltage coming in there. Probably 220v. You'll need to adjust the screw with the power off. You may get lucky and have some other way to adjust the cut in pressure, but I've never seen one that didn't need to have the cover removed.

Mike Swearingen

flyultralite,
You need to do at least two things initially to try to boost your shallow well water pressure...raise the cut-on air pressure in the pressure tank and raise the cut-on/cut-off pressure on the pressure switch.
To adjust the pressure tank:
Turn the pump off and drain the water pressure down to nothing. Then check the pressure in the pressure tank with a tire gauge. It should be two psi below the current cut-on pressure. (The pressure ideally should be about 20 psi apart, such as 30-50 or 40-60 psi cut-on/cut-off.) If it is too low for what you're tryng to raise it to, air up the pressure tank with a bicycle pump or portable air tank or compressor. It should be at 38 psi for the 40-60, for instance.
To adjust a pressure switch:
These vary, and as FatAugie said, the electrical connections under the switch cover are HOT, either with 120v or 240v, AND EITHER ONE CAN KILL YOU. I adjust my pump with the electrical HOT to the pressure switch because it's easier to adjust and I know what I'm doing, but IF YOU ARE NOT COMFORTABLE WORKING "DANGER CLOSE" WITH HOT ELECTRICAL CONNECTIONS, DO NOT DO IT! TURN OFF THE BREAKER OR UNPLUG THE PUMP (SWITCH), AND TEST IT BEFORE TOUCHING IT.
You will see either one or two threaded bolts sticking up with nuts on them. You turn the nuts down to increase the pressure. If it is only one threaded bolt, it will automatically be set 20 psi apart for the cut-on/cut-off. If there are two threaded bolts, the taller bolt will be the cut-on and the shorter bolt will be to adjust the cut-off. Adjust them down until your pump comes on at 40 psi (or whatever) and cuts off at 60 (or whatever).
If your well point is in good shape and not too clogged, and your pump is in good shape, these two adjustments may just do it for you.
You'll just have to experiment and work with it until you get the system to its best pressure. Your goal is to get the maximum pressure without causing your pump to labor.
Good luck!
Mike

flyultralite

Hello, with the help of members here I was able to fix my initial problem. Thank you for the help everyone. Everything worked great until today. Now my pressure switch points won't close to start the pump. I checked for power and its good. I tried re-adjusting the cut on/off nut but nothing. When I close the points by carefully using a pencil the pump engages and runs great, once I release the pencil points will open and cut off pump. I'm at a lose on what to do or what the problem could be now..any help would be greatly appreciated!

Oh and one more thing (which I think might be a leading cause to the problem) My water filter was loaded with debris from the well.

Thank you in advance,
Flyultralite

Bondo

Ayuh,.....
Once you've Cleaned,+ or replaced your Water Filter,......
If your pressure switch Still doesn't work...........

For the 10 bucks it costs,... I'd replace it.......

flyultralite

I took the filter out and put a new one in. I also took the pressure gauge out and cleaned it (there was alot of "chunks" there) Re-assembled and turned pump on. It fired up but now won't shut off. The pressure gauge flickers around 40 PSI and won't get anymore then that.

Another tid-bit of info...I checked the air pressure in the tank and it reads 24 PSI.

Any idea's now, lol??

flyultralite

So my pump was configured to cut on at 40 and off at 60 PSI. Seeing that the stupid thing wouldn't raise higher then 45 PSI I ended up dropping the cut on to 20 and cut off at 40. The good news is the pump works fine now but the bad news is taking a shower or filling the sink takes forever. Any suggestions why my pump wouldn't raise higher then 45 PSI? I'd really love to get the original pressure back. It wouldn't simply be the needle gauge would it..the reason I ask is because as the lines lose pressure the needle gets stuck at 35 PSI then after a few minutes flops down to 20.

Bondo

Ayuh,.....

My Guess is,.... The Pump itself is Full of Chunks too......