Well Pump

[Sam Mansell]

I have a two pipe deep jet style pump that is used to just irrigate the yard. After not using it all winter, I went to start it and no water. It appeared as the pump needed primed. I tried that and no luck so took the pump into a dealer and a couple humdered dollars later it was to be rebuilt. It still would not pickup water. I then pulled the piping and installed a new ejector assemblie at the bottom and have tried and tried to prime and it will not pick up. Any other ideas what to try. I know the piping is in water and if take loose from pump and move pipe up and down, the water comes out, so know that the check is opening and closing on the ejector assemblie. Please help.

 

[teddy52food]

Make sure the motor is turning the right way. When you prime it, does the water stay full or slowly seep down? You may have a leaky pipe. The pump has to force water down through the jet to bring water up.

 

[Sam Mansell]

It stays full after I prime it and when run the pump, it will just get the water in the pump itself warm. When you turn the pump off, it will drop a fraction and take about a cup to top it off again. Like I also mentioned when I disconnect the pipe from pump and move both line up and down, water will surge out so I am sure the check is holding the pipe should not have a leak.?? I worked with it all day and am stumped on this one. After having the pump rebuilt and new ejector, I am now lost???

 

[dave guest]

Happened to me, too. The well was dry. And never came back. Somebody told me to fire couple 22's down the casing. Did not work. Others lost wells. Local quarry pumps several million gallons a day, but says that didn't cause the problem. Yeah sure!

 

[Anonymous-0]

does this pump have a drive pressure adjustment? if so is it set correctly? sugest you check with your pump rebuilder on this . as i remember most single stage jet pumps required 22 psi drive pressure and 2 stage pumps 44 psi to operate properly

 

[Lesformore]

Hi Sam. Make sure you have the pipes connected correctly. The larger pipe from the center of the pump goes down the well to the center of the ejector, it is the suction pipe. The smaller pipe that usually comes from the lower part of the pump body connects to the side of the ejector.It is the pressure pipe.There should be a regulator on the pump that determines how much water goes down the well to bring more water up, it must be partially open. Remember that you cannot compress water and therefore it has to have somewhere to go. Make sure the valve between the pump and the tank is open.

 

[Dan-IA]

Are you sure you got it primed okay? Seriously, those pumps are a b*tch to get primed! (I've wasted many long sleepless nights trying to prime those pumps!)

Remember it takes only a tiny little air leak and it will lose its prime. Best method I've found to prime those pumps is to fill the pressure tank with water and cycle the pump repeatedly (say, 40 times or so.) You can tell by the sound when it's pumping air instead of water, so shut it off then. In most cases the pump will be at the highest point in the plumbing for the well, so the air bubbles will find the pump and lose the prime. This is when shutting the pump off allows water to back-flush from the pressure tank, re-priming the pump. When the water quits "wooshing", turn the pump on again. Repeat until it works. (If you fill the pressure tank first and have everything else all plumbed up, then cycling the pump is just a matter of pulling up on the flat lever near the bottom of the pressure switch.)



How far is the well from the pump? It's amazing how much water that piping will hold!

You had the pump off the source lines. Black plastic? I could never get a perfect seal again on that pipe, I had to shorten it by about 2-3 inches (how far the nipple stuck into the pipe.) Even 3 hoseclamps won't squeeze it tight enough.

 

[Dan-IA]

Filling the pressure tank first may sound like a chicken-egg problem. In my house I filled the pressure tank by first closing the valve on the pump side of the pressure tank and opening the valve on the "house" (demand/output) side of the tank, then pumping water from my cistern through the pipes. Once the tank was full I closed the valve on the "house" side and opened it on the pump side. hope this helps!

 

[Sam#3]

First I will say I know next to nothing about jet pump systems, however, on my last job I worked next to the Chilled Water guys on a huge hvac complex. More than once I remember them saying something about someone closing a valve and 'deadheading' a pump and it would get so hot it would destroy the packing.
Together with your statement about the water getting warm and Lesformore's mention of a regulator valve makes me wonder if that's the location of your problem.

 

[jose bagge]

Sounds like a priming issue, and shouldn't have anything to do with the pressure tank- infact, I'd install a valve to isolate all that while you are in priming mode. I've found that you pretty much have to have both pipes completely filled with water (which requires a good foot valve on the end of the ejector) to get these muva's to prime. Since this is a "secondary" pump, you might splice in an inlet for another water source and run that full blast while you cycle the pump to prime.
I the end, the whole priming issue drove me crazy and I just chucked an "in well" pump down there and had no more problems- flip a switch and there's your h20

 

[Bus Driver]

A bit of debris in the ejector can cause the symptoms described.

 

[greygoat]

To Dave Guest--that happened to places here in
Wisconsin, local Quarry using so much water in
"washing" gravel that water level in local wells,
and in spring fed trout streams went low. The
DNR got involved--quarry was restricted in water
use, and is really whining!

 

[Anonymous-0]

More than likely the problem,Down under, some oil fields off shore are using water in their operation and the wells on shore are drying up. That is coincidental too.

 

[teddy52food]

I don't know how deep your well is, but a jet pump can only pump water a limited height. Did the water level drop from last year?

 

[Dan-IA]

If his well is a two-inch like mine is, he can't put a submersible in. I think you need at least a 4 inch well casing to handle a submersible.

But yeah, those submersibles are awesome! They'll pump a well dry in seconds if it's not properly developed.

 

[Wesley Stephens]

We had a problem like that once with a 2 in. well, but the problem with ours was the foot valve. We tried shooting down it, but it didn't work. Luckily, we had just put down a 4" well and just gave up on the old one. 50gpm at 60 psi is nice.

 

[Sagebrusher]

Hi Sam,
Hopefully you have it fixed by now. I think Bus Driver diagnosed your problem with a plugged or partially plugged injector nozzle (also called the "jet" at the bottom ot your well pipes. By priming the pipes with an up and down motion, (this is how the old rod and cylinder pumps worked) you know that your injector is in at least some water, that your foot valve is holding, and that your well is not completely dry. If the water level is low your pump will at least start pumping and make pressure for a bit before it draws down and breaks suction.
It is VERY common for corrosion to dislodge from a disturbed pump case, fittings or, galvanized well pipes. The smaller "drive" or pressurized pipe tends to pack foreign objects in to the and prevents the "high/low" venturi action from working. A flat fleck the size of a pencil erase can stop a jet pump dead. Without the venturi or jet action the pump impeller at the top just sits and spins but centrifugal action alone cannot pump water much over
If you are fortunate enough to have poly pipe you need to pull the pipe and remove the injector for inspection and cleaning. If you have older galvinized pipe you should plan to pull, or have it pulled, and replace it with a high grade of polly pipe. Note, if you already have poly pipe, keep the pump end higher than the inector end as the crud in the bottom will flush back into the pipes and end up in the jet again when you install it.
Leroy is correct too about needing a regulator valve between the pump and the tank or discharge for most pumping levels. The regulator forces a portion of the water in the case (i have forgotten he average ratios of circulating water vs discharged) down the smaller drive or pressure side well pipe, through the nozzle and venturi.
Hope you already figured it out but if not, hope this helps. My email is open if you have off line questions. Hope you have a good Memorial Day Don