East of Broken Bow | corn48 - 12/7/2022 16:14
We have a well at the farm. water flow seems fine in the house. i have a line going to the barn and to a hydrant. i have noticed when i fill the cattle trough with a hose from the hydrant, the water surges like every 5 dec. with some air coming out of the hose. it is still a full flow but like its airified. had a new pressure switch on pump put in this summer. shortly after that renter moved out and no water use for 3 months. when i started using water again the problem started. any ideas
I was thinking on this today, and it might be more than coincidence that it started after a new pressure switch was installed.
My new thought is that the pressure tank is water logged, and the pump is cycling way more than it should be, OR the new pressure switch is set differently than the old one was, likely to a lower pressure.
Here is how it is supposed to work when properly set up: The pressure tank has a bladder to separate the air and water. It is supposed to be filled at a slightly lower pressure than the 'on' pressure of the well so that the well kicks on just before the bladder is empty. This maximizes the amount of water the tank can take in each time the well cycles.
What I am going to guess, is that the new switch runs at lower pressure than the old one, so that the bladder actually 'empties' before the well kicks on. The pressure drops fast, for just a fraction of a second, until the well kicks on, which gives you the 'surge' that you feel. If the flow is slow enough, like when you are not using the hose, the pump kicks on quick enough you never get the surge or not enough to notice it. The way to verify this, is to have someone at the pressure switch and/or control box, listening for the relays to 'click' If the surges match the clicks of the well cycling on and off, you found the problem.
Also, if the pressure tank has gone bad, there could be so little air left in it, that you get a similar issue, with it losing pressure so fast you feel a surge before the well kicks in again. This would also surge with the cycling of the well coming on and off. If the well is in fact cycling that quickly, you need to get it fixed soon, as that rapid of cycling will shorten the life of the well.
IMO, the first thing to figure out, is if the surging matches the on/off cycling of the well, and if it does, it is almost sure to be a pressure tank issue. |
well water ?
