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I can answer most questions in the field of plumbing home repair for the inside or outside property of a home including irrigation systems, septic systems, well water systems, recirculation systems and I can address these questions from a beginning plumbing standpoint or for someone who has more advanced skills.

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I have worked on a variety of major projects including Home Depot as an outsourced Project Manager tasked to repair the fire system at the Fullerton/Placentia store and distribution center in Orange County. I believe in simplifying any task I am assigned in order to avoid wasting time and material, while I always look for the simplest solution possible to the issue and then I execute my plan. Having lead many construction crews, large and small, I have been involved in residential and commercial repair and remodel projects including medical facilities, new home construction, high rises and apartment complexes. Building maintenance work in condominium complexes from Playa del Rey to Beverly Hills to the Hollywood Hills are a speciality. I have completed many maintenance work projects at complexes great and small.

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You are here: Experts > Home/Garden > Home Improvement/Repair > Plumbing in the Home > Farm well pressure issues

Plumbing in the Home - Farm well pressure issues

Expert: Anthony - The Plumber - 10/30/2009

Question
QUESTION: We have a well that is 100 feet down hill from our home. The system works fine as it is, but we want to move the pressure switch to the pump house (100 feet lower), and we have everything changed. BUT, right now, we are still using the pressure switch (30-50) at the house by the pressure tank. The new pressure switch is connected to the pipes, but not electrical yet. When the pump cycles, the water goes from 80-100 at the pump house. So our new switch is rated up to 150psi. It's now set to cycle at 80-100psi. Keep in mind it does not run the pump yet. When the pump cycles, the pressure swings enough to have our new switch contacts open and close a couple times when the pump shuts off or turns on. We know this is bad, but don't know how to stabilize the pressure down there. Up at the pressure tank, the pressure does not swing at all. Ideas?

ANSWER: Lisa,

If I read this right, it seems to me that you are moving the pump and switch
200 feet below your home - correct?

If so, you are putting a tremendous strain on the pump due to the fact that
for every 1ft water must be lifted you lose .5psi.

Or to put it another way, to lift the water 200 feet, your pump has to push
the water at 100 psi.

If your pump cannot maintain that or if it shuts down when it reaches it's
100psi output capacity, then you will not be able to maintain adequate pressure
throughout your home.

You could leave the original pump in place and use it as a booster pump which will take
the strain off the new unit and maintain a steady flow in the house.

Either way, the key here is you must overcome a 200 foot vertical rise and this is
difficult without properly engineering the entire system.

May I suggest re-thinking the whole thing and get back to me with your thoughts.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Anthony

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---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Actually, we are only moving the pressure switch. The pump remains the same, and has always pushed the water up the same distance. The issue we have is that the pressure flucuations in the pump house trigger the switch a couple times each time the pump kicks on or off. (The new switch is not being used yet because of this instability.) You can see the pressure bounce on both the pressure guage in the pumphouse, and in the switch assembly.

Answer
Lisa,

Thanks for the clarification.

It's possible the pressure tank may be failing to maintain pressure on the house side of
the pump in which case it would have to cycle twice to maintain static pressure.

Additionally, the contacts on the switch may be to sensitive and would do the same thing.

Check these out as well and let me know what you discover.

Anthony

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