It seems like 150' distance to the well, with a slight uphill slope from well to house would reduce your available pressure a little, but not much. I've heard of people with longer runs. Pumps typically can push water farther than they can suck it, which is an advantage of a submerged well. Your pump is basically pushing the water straight up the well, and then another 150' up to the house. That may be why the pump pressure is set at 70, to compensate for the run so that you would still have reasonable pressure in the house. Some of the other guys here know more about the pumps and tanks than I do, so they'll correct me if I'm wrong.
Keep us posted when you can check the tank output. I'm still guessing corroded lines. If your well is put together like mine, there is a plastic line buried 4' deep from well to house. After That, it's galvanzied and hard copper.
The run and slight rise shouldn't cause a noticeable drop in pressure. Even if the pump is 150 ft in the well it is only pushing water from whatever the water level is. Say static is at 50 ft, the pump is only raising it 50 ft. As for run, 150 ft isn't even worth calculating unless the pipe is grossly undersized. You will have more restriction (pressure loss) going through a couple a t's or el's than 150 ft of pipe. My well at one time was 1/3 mile distant with no problems (of course it was basically at the same elevation).
The pipe being PVC is a puzzle. I haven't heard of that type pipe corroding. If it transfers to iron or copper in the house that would be my suspicion. Everything looks for sure like blocked pipes or an obstruction somewhere in the house.
PVC from the well I can understand, do you mean PVC to the sink too? Volume is more likely a problem from the tank to the sink, or tank pressure, as noted. Even a dribble into the tank will provide good flow at the sink if the setup is ok.
On charging the tank, don't confuse the pressure of the air with the amount of air. I think the rull of thumb with an old non-bladder type is to
1) shut off the pump
2) open a valve downstream fromt he tank, like at a sink)
3) pump air into the tank till the bubbling stops, usually 1/2 way
4) close the valve at the sink so no more water comes out
5) pressurize the tank to the desired PSI.
I wonder - could it be that the one way valve between the tank and the well is leaking?
Sorry I did the disappearing act and haven't posted an asnwer, but anybody who was wondering what is was here you go. Unfortunately school absorbs most of my time so when I do get to work outside it's a flurry of action doing everything that I can on my ever growing "To Do" list.
After checking all of what was previously posted above we still lacked pressure.
The flat spot for the house was cut into the side of the hill (5-10% varying grade I'd guess). Our well head sits about 150' from the house about 10'-15' higher than the pressure tank etc. About 10'-15' from the house (towards the well) the slope hits the level ground.
During December we went about 3 weeks w/o any rain. I found water pooling at the base of the slope. The slope was dry, except for the one spot. Previously, when it rained, even just once or so a week a large area where the slope hits the flat spot would stay wet (the Oklahoma clay doesn't drain well). Also, the previous owners did nothing about drainage. When it rains, a couple of acres of water flow downhill towards the house. But since it's been dry for almost 3 weeks everywhere else dried up, except the one spot.
The leak in the pipe coming from the well to pressure tank was such that most of the leaking water went straight down, but only a little moved horizontally and breached the surface.
I don't think my explanation is coherent, but I hope it makes sense.
Thanks to all who posted advice. I had not a clue where to start.
Clint.
P.S. We bought the 5 acres as a trial run to see if we really wanted to live the rural/hobby farm life. We can already tell you that we will be bying 80-100 more. My wife says that I need to finish school and get a job first though.
Sorry Clint but we can't help you unless you tell us about your setup, pressures, etc..
Water flow and water pressure usually has absolutely nothing to do with the well, amount of water available in the well and so on.
Basically a pump forces water into a holding tank. Because of a once way valve (is it working?) the water only flows in. Depending on the size of the tank, pressure setting on the switch, and how much air is in the tank, the pressure in the tank will rise until the pressure switch shuts off the pump.
If you have a typical 40 gallon tank that is properly pressurized water will come out of it like a fire hose, at least for the first 10 or so gallons, even if you disconnect the pump, fill up the well and so on. If it doesn't that narrows down the possible solutions. If it does, that narrows down the possible solutions.
We need you to answer our questions and various pressures and stuff. Maybe you can post a picture of your tank, etc.?
Again, it probably has nothing to do with your well.
Did you drain the tank? if it only has a bit of air in it, the pressure doesn't matter - it may delivery a teaspoon of water and the pressure will drop to 0?
What happens to the pressure at the tank when you run the kitchen sink? Have somebody record the pressure every 10 seconds and run the water. Post the results. Do the same thing, but this time drain the tank directly. If the flow rate much greater than the rate at the sink?
If you shut off the power to your pump, what happens to the tank pressure? Does it drop at all in 10 minutes?
The purpose of my previous post was to say that the problem is fixed. When we fixed the leak the low pressure problem went away. I don't know enough about the system to hypothesize why. All I know is that everything works fine now. I posted to let others who had posted advice that everything works and to thank them for their help.
My well only runs the garden hoses. I keep the pressure to come on at 30 and shut off at 40. The lines are all short and new. I get real god pressure at the hoses. Our house was on the well untill village water came by and i used the same pressures then and we had good flow. The house is all 3/4 copper and some 3/4 PVC then down to half and each water sink/tub and such. Sounds like you may have a problem with plugged lines. If you have alot of old lines 70lbs might cause a blow some place. Maybe not...but ide be thinking that. Im a worrie wart when it comes to stuff like that and i cant seem to rest untill its fixed. That could be why i have high blood pressure which is higher than 70lbs... [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img]
Oooops. [img]/forums/images/icons/blush.gif[/img] Reread your post and spotted the leak part. I didn't realize that that was your problem. Usually leaks aren't unless of course, the one way valve near the pressure tank is leaking or not there.
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