we just purchased a Shur-Dri jet pump. It is a deep well convertible pump converted to shallow well. when the water is barely running it cycles on and off rapidly. Our well is artisian . Can some tell me Show to adjust this pump? Sherry [chickadee259@yahoo.com]

-- sherry mullins (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 30, 2001

Answers

Sounds like the well is water logged.Turn off the power to the pump first, then drain the tank completely of all water and then turn the well back on. This should fix the problem if it is water logged. Trust this will work. God Bless

-- Charles steen (xbeeman412@aol.com), January 30, 2001.

I wish Hubby was here we have had this problem .Any chance the holding tank has ice ? Is there enough air in it ? Are your pressure settings correct for the size holding tank you have .I don't know if any of this will help , just things we have had problems with .I'm sure someone will pop in with good answers .

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), January 30, 2001.

Thanks for the help that was fast. Our pump is new and factory set .Can the natural pressure of an artisian well have an effect or do I need to readajust the factory settings? Whats the relationship between the motor pressure setting and the tank preesure setting? Sherry

-- sherry mullins (chickadee259@yahoo.com), January 30, 2001.

We had the same trouble with the barn pump. Charles is right about what happened to ours. We had it cycling on and off and the elec. bill that month was higher. We drained the water and it works great now. Seems like my husband had to do something with the pressure gauge? Maybe he was just looking at it. Charles, did he have to get it to a certain pressure?

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), January 30, 2001.

I hate to admit it men do come in handy every once in a while .HaHa only kidding guys !

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), January 30, 2001.

Our pump did that and I had to replace the vavumn line and ballcock fitting at the tank. Don't know if yours has this, but it controls tank pressure.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 30, 2001.

Agree with Charles. The pressure tank is waterlogged. If you have a diaphragm tank, the diaphragm is probably ruptured and the tank will have to be replaced. If you have an older tank, without the diaphragm, then drain it as suggested, charge it with a shot of air, bring it up to about 20psi with air, then pump away. Look for possible air leaks near the top of the tank.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), January 30, 2001.

Sherry, Charles is right. I've worked with water systems for many years. It's ALMOST certainly a water logged tank. Follow Charles's instructions before trying anything else, because it's easy to do, and because you may cause other problems if you start messing around with other things. Always better to look at the easy stuff first.

Also, what kind of pressure tank do you have? Is it a bladder type? If not, there are various ways to keep it charged, e.g. a "bleedback" system.

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), January 30, 2001.

Has your problem been solved? We just installed a new submersible pump (did it ourselves) and ours did the same thing when we turned on the water ~ like "on" to "off" in literally a split second over and over again! Then we realized that we didn't put a check valve in between the pump and the tank. Did that and the problem was solved.

-- Wingnut (wingnut@moment.net), February 04, 2001.

I agree with the earlier posts. We just went through this. The diaphragm in the pressure tank ruptured so all the air was lost. You need to take care of this ASAP or you'll burn out your pump as we did. If your tank has an air valve on top, get some air into it immediately for a temporary fix. Water is one third oxygen and the air in the tank will slowly diffuse into the water, but this will keep your pump from burning out. If you have a compressor, you can pump air into the tank. Make sure you have a faucet open and the pump turned off. If the tank is full of water and there is nowhere for the water to go, you won't get any air into the tank. With the faucet open while you are pumping air in, the air will displace the water out the faucet. Another option is to shut off the pump, and open a valve that is lower than the tank. As water drains out of the system, depress the valve stem on the air valve on the tank and let air get sucked in by the vacuum created by the draining water. The problem is, you won't know how much air is in there. This is only temporary. You need a new tank, or a new diaphragm installed by someone with testing equipment to get the right amount of air at the right pressure in the tank.

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), February 04, 2001.