Why does pump lost prime

In an emergency, you may have to use pond or stream water, but the water may contain sediments that could harm the pump. It's wise to keep a few gallons of clean water on hand strictly for priming purposes. Purchase water at the store or ask a neighbor for potable water if possible. Use water from your toilet tanks or water heater let water cool before priming if they still contain water. Fill valves on pumps are notoriously small.

Use a funnel to add water to the pump. Take your time to avoid spilling water on the pressure switch or other electrical components in the well house. When the water rises to the top of the fill valve, replace the plug and restore power to the pump. If the pump still doesn't produce enough water pressure, turn off the power and repeat the process. It may take several priming attempts before the lines contain enough water to develop suction.

When there's a leak in your pipes or other problems in your system, priming won't restore your water flow. Hire a well-pump repair specialist to help you get your pump running again. If you can't restore the prime to your well pump , contact Henry Plumbing LLC today and schedule an inspection of your pump and pipes. We have 70 years of experience servicing water pumps and wells.

Many homes require water filtration, but you may have trouble deciding between the different filters. Read on to make your decision easier. Storing water beneath your property for when you need it most can be crucial. Here are four reasons to tap into your underground water storage tanks. If you have an old and unkempt pond on your property, you can take steps to restore it back to life.

Follow the steps on this blog. Whether you've recently bought a home that's on well water or you had a well drilled on your property, learn three pump problems you should know. If you're considering buying a home with a well and have no experience with well water, you have a few things to learn. Pump loses prime from a closed valve - A closed valve preventing the pump from running is another way of saying "deadheading" the pump.

This means that the pump is trying to run but the plumbing system is currently closed or otherwise restricting the flow of water. This is like trying to drive your car at full speed, but at the same time there is a brick wall completely blocking the road.

Deadheading the pump is actually a dangerous situation as this can cause pressures to rise within the system that can result in explosion or sudden decompression including the pool filter. It is very important to make sure that you never deadhead your pump.

In the event that your pump loses prime be sure to check that your valve orientation is such that the pump is not meeting a brick wall within the system.

Pool automation systems including motorized valve actuators are more popular than ever. If a valve actuator were to malfunction or the programing of an automation system to be thrown off schedule then you may find you have a valve that was closed which gave the impression that the pump lost prime, when in reality the more accurate statement is that the pump hit a brick wall and was unable to continue pumping.

Pool pump loses prime from dirty filter - In the above example you learned how deadheading a pump with a closed valve is dangerous and causes the pump to lose prime. In the same way a dirty filter can also cause your pool pump to lose prime. As the filter media catches debris the amount of debris and organic material will build up. Eventually the flow will become restricted and the pressure in the system along with the resistance to flow increases.

In fact this is exactly how you are supposed to know when it is time to clean your pool filter. Some pool owners use a regularly timed schedule for this service but this might mean you are cleaning too much or not often enough. Using filter pressure to determine when the filter is dirty is the optimum method, and typically 7 PSI above the clean operation pressure of the system is the point at which a filter cleaning service should be performed.

If a pool system were to run unrestricted and the filter media were to become dirty, and then eventually so dirty that the pump could not push water through it, the end symptom to the pool owner aside from the possibility of the filter exploding is that the pump would appear to have lost prime for some reason.

A quick potential check is to bypass the filter to see if this allows the pump to run and prime better. For some filters like sand filters this will be as easy as setting the filter head setting to recirculate or whirlpool which effectively bypasses the entire tank. If you recently rebuilt your filter and now the pump is losing prime, or will not prime, you should be sure that you have plumbed the intake and outlet ports for the filter correctly and be sure that the filter elements are seated properly.

Any pool owner working on or with a filter, especially a split tank filter, needs to be aware of the danger. Never attempt to tighten or work on a filter when the pool system is running. Pump loses prime from cavitation - A pool pump losing prime from cavitation will have the distinction of losing and then catching prime over and over on a repeating frequency.

In this situation the pump is attempting to draw water faster than the pipe can provide water. Like trying to suck through a small straw as hard as you can you will find that the liquid doesn't just come faster and faster.

You quickly reach a point beyond which the liquid will not move faster. In a pool pump when the pipes can not supply the water as fast as the pump can move the water you end up with a void in the center where the pump pumps all the water within it, but the new supply of water has not refilled into this space yet.

This is often found when pumps which are too powerful are used on a plumbing system. The water molecules touching the impeller inside of the pump are located where the pressure is lowest within the plumbing system. When the pressure of the system falls enough water will form bubbles as gas begins to escape the water.

As these bubbles move from the center of the impeller to the outside of the impeller they are subjected to increasing rotational speeds which increases the pressure on the bubbles again. This in turn results in a sudden, explosive like collapse of the vapor which causes physical damage to the pump.

When operating a cavitating pump can sound like it is full of small rocks but this is the sound of explosive collapsing of vapor inside of the pump. In extreme cases of oversized pumps or restricted plumbing the cavitation will progress from the popping rocks sound to fully losing prime.

A complete separate pump system is filling the storage tanks. I can't answer the question about pressure on the pressure tanks because we don't have a gauge on them. So all I have to do to test the pressure tanks is close the block valve and use the hose bib to bleed water of the pressure tanks and they seen to have plenty of pressure. If that makes sense to you.

Yes the bleed-to-confirm water pressure makes sense. IF you are getting water out of the tanks they're not blocked. Besides for large tanks such as yours there would not be an internal bladder design. But you might encounter such a problem if you had a pump and bladder type pressure tank at the house end of the system. I will let you know if raising the pressure has any effect on the problem. If the water pressure is off at the house the ranch foreman will check the gage to see if there is pressure and then he is going to open the hose bib and see if the pump comes on then.

I believe we have determined the problem or in this case a couple of problems. What we found was the pump case actually had a small crack that during periods of none use overnight would allow the pump case to drain and then the pump would lose prime. The system has a sensor on the pump to shutoff the pump in case the pump looses prime so that was why the pump would appear not to start only after sitting overnight.

Also the pressure gage was faulty and would not read less than 41 lbs, oddly enough that was the pressure where the pump should have started. So all those problems together was making it appear to be something else and that kept us looking in the wrong places. We can sleep tonight :- and again thanks for helping me try to figure out the problem and yes we did learn something.

I'm was also confused that you said you opened a valve at the storage tanks and had plenty of water, BUT depending on the tank and piping arrangement, that might be true at those storage tanks even when water pressure in the tanks was not sufficient to push water uphill to the point of use. On by mod - why do we lose prime except when we keep water running? Julian Spencer, The observation that if you run water often-enough you don't lose prime suggests that there is a leak back into the water storage cistern or tank or a leak out of piping between tank and point of use; In contrast, I also considered an air leak at the pump itself, but in that case I don't think running it at frequent intervals would avoid the prime-loss problem.

Post a sketch for me if you can - use the Add Image button to add a. Is the pump above the point of connection of piping to the water storage tank? I have diligently read all the questions, comments and your very helpful solutions but I am still struggling.

My water comes from a ltr depository which due to my position has to be filled by tanker. I have installed a new surface pump to send water to the house. The pump has worked perfectly for a week but has now started to lose prime. First time was yesterday and lost prime overnight. This morning no water and prime has gone in the space of one hour. I have an inspection pipe extension of the pipe from the tank which has a tap fitted and comes above the level of the tank and the pump.

The water level is remaining at the level of the pump the water level in the tank is below the level of the pump so I am thinking the foot valve is ok. As far as I can see and feel there are no water leaks. The pump keeps prime providing we turn on a tap at regular intervals but this is hardly a solution.

All suggestions, comments and help will be appreciated. Teri, Tthe bottom line is it sounds as if the pump is running dry, overheating and is damaged. When your new pump also isn't working I suspect that either it wasn't correctly primed, or there's a leaky foot valve or leak in the well piping.

More diagnostic articles and instructions on how to prime a well poump are in the Index to Related Articles found about on this page.

I had no problem up till 2 night ago. Anthony Monte, I agree that it sounds like you're missing a check valve, or there's a leak somewhere in the piping system. Mary smith, Turn off the pump. Wait three or more hours to see if that gives your well time to recover in which case we've diagnosed a possible cause. Sarah, That sounds to me as if there is a debris blockage or a closed valve in your water supply piping or, possibly, very low flow rate and pressure due to clogging of the driven point or actual loss of water in the well, or a pump failure.

I have a point well that brings water to the house AND the faucet on what is called a dog house that houses the point well. We have water coming out of the faucet but not into the house. Any ideas? We do not have any leaks. Thank you so much. An air leak in the piping or a damaged or worn impeller or pump that's not running or as low voltage or the lift is greater than the pumps lift capacity.

I can run a high output sprinkler all day with no problems. With 2 sprinklers running for about 20 minutes and pump cycling properly, it reaches a point when system cycles on for about 5 seconds and shuts down. At this point, the tank is empty. I can turn off 1 sprinkler and force the system to come up by holding the throw on the pressure switch until pressure reaches about 35 pounds.

It is then up and running. I would appreciate some help. Paige Forgive me for being a bit brazen but that doesn't sound right to me. Maybe there's a misunderstanding here. Usually when well loses prime when power goes out we figure that there's a leaky check valve between pressure tank and well piping or a leaky foot valve at the bottom of the well piping. Replace the check valve or foot valve.

By no means do you need a new well simply to replace a bad valve. So my well loses its prime every time the power goes out. I've been told that there is not really a fix for this other than we will need a new well. I can reprime it myself but don't want to be doing it all winter long. We just got a new motor put into the well this spring, and the bladder was replaced right before that.

My dad had changed the "well points? Looking to get a better answer then having to get a new well. When I have to reprime it it normally picks right back up where it left off. Super easy but a pain in the butt. Mile: Sounds as if water is leaking back to the storage tank; as anonymous said, you need a check valve. I have just installed a new J5S Goulds shallow well pump and a 44 gallon water worker pressure tank. My water is being pumped from a gallon storage tank to my house no well.

I have reduced the pressure on the pressure tank to 28 psi. When the pump comes on everything is flowing fine and getting water in every location in the house. When pump reaches 50 psi and shuts off all of the accumulated pressure escapes and the pump has to restart. There is no sound of pressure escaping while the pump is running. Only when it stops and then all pressure is lost.

I have installed a pressure gauge and pressure release valve on the T coming from the pressure tank. Please help.

Naturally since the landlord owns the property they can try whatever they want. However I don't quite understand how trying to use a product designed it to Rew unclog the point in a driven Point well is going to have much to do with a pump losing Prime. Perhaps the landlord thinks the problem is not lost Prime but simply inability to draw water up through the driven point. I tried what you suggested and I had the same results.

My landlord wants to try nuwell tablets in the well. My water issue got worse with replacing switch and tank in basement. Thank you. Just a guess: low flow well, low water in the well, combined with a pump protection device on the switch. Try waiting for a few hours with pump off, then see if you get a longer draw-down or water-on cycle. Let me know.