Well water question

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
Messages
5,533
Location
Coolidge, AZ
Today the water flow quit mid-shower. Later there was enough to refill the toilet tank. But the flow was nothing to brag about. What's up? What do I tell the landlord? I really need to wash my hair!
 
Assuming that your well pump is ok I think it's one of 3 problems. If you have a shallow well your foot valve could be clogged or broken. Your well is running dry. Your tank is waterlogged.

If you have a artesian well either the pump impellers are broken, the check valve on the tank is open causing the system to drain back into the well or your tank is waterlogged.

It's also possible the pressure switch is clogged or broken but it sounds like a valve or lack of water problem to me.

In any case a well company or plumber will have to be called.
 
Well that is one of the good things of renting, you only have one call to make, to the landlord and tell them just what you said here. It is their responsibility and their expense. Hope it is handled in a quick manner for you:)
 
"It's the time, of the season...."

The water level around our property has dropped since the well was originally drilled. I think our well is about 180' deep.

Last year we kept pumping more water than the well could produce. That would trip a breaker on the well pump, and occasionally you would hear the pump 'gurgling'. Sounded like it was pumping water and air.

That was pretty hard on the pump, and it was 27 years old, so we had a new pump put in. Fortunately, the well was a little bit deeper than where they had placed the pump, so the well guy was able to add another 20' section of pipe to drop the pump down. That did the trick and this year we haven't had any trouble.

Someday though, we probably will need to get a new well drilled. They don't last forever.
 
If they determine that your well isn't producing enough water and you have a shallow (dug) well, they may be able to add pipe and drop the foot valve closer to the bottom of the well.

Paul is right. If the bladder leaks or breaks the tank will become waterlogged and lose pressure. Delivering water to the faucet will be difficult.

I think your problem is lack of water though.
 
Hmmm,

We did have a pressure tank go bad as well. We had low pressure and the pump would run a lot.

Try tapping on your pressure tank. If it rings like a bell towards the top you should be good. If it rings like it's full of water, well, that's an issue.

A pressure tank shouldn't get all that full. There's a bunch of air in there for a reason.
 
Assuming that your well pump is ok I think it's one of 3 problems. If you have a shallow well your foot valve could be clogged or broken. Your well is running dry. Your tank is waterlogged.

If you have a artesian well either the pump impellers are broken, the check valve on the tank is open causing the system to drain back into the well or your tank is waterlogged.

It's also possible the pressure switch is clogged or broken but it sounds like a valve or lack of water problem to me.

In any case a well company or plumber will have to be called.

Bingo. Right on.
Hopefully, it is not a shallow well. That could bring a whole host of other problems.
Yes, get the landlord to check things out.
 
Carol,
Can't give you any answers about a well pump, never had one... from mid teen's on to now, I've always been on city water, even where we live now, 6 miles out of town, we're on city water.... but in my early years our wells were always drawn wells... I've pull a many bucket of water out a well.... by the time I was about 10 that was my job, keep the water bucket full.
We did have one house out in west Texas that had a windmill pump, but I still had to draw water for the house.

I remember back when I was real little - before school age - we lived on the family homestead in east Texas, we had a well that was so shallow that Dad decided to deepen it... he pulled the water by hand out of the well to get enough water out so he could stand in the bottom and dig out another 6 foot .... I think the water was only about 10 feet below the surface.
 
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