If you have a bladder tank, the installer should have charged it properly, and once charged, it will not loose its air charge. A non-bladder tank will, over time, loose its air charge because the air will dissolve in the water and disappear out of the various faucets. Therefore a non-bladder tank should be recharged regularly with air. If you suspect a tank is completely water logged, it will not hurt to put a little air in and see if it makes a difference. The air fittings look like tire fill valves, and are normally located near the top of the tank, possibly next to the pressure gauge. You can add air with a bicycle pump, I would start by adding enough air to make the pressure gauge go up 10 PSI.

To completely recharge the tank, turn off the pump and run the water until the pressure gauge reads zero. Add air until you reach the pump cut in pressure (low pressure setting where the pump turns on). Then turn the pump back on. This is the proper amount of air for your pressure tank. The pressure gauge should go up slowly until it reaches the cut out pressure (high pressure setting when the pump turns off).

Here is what I found: There are two main types of pressure switches on any type of well pump; Square D pumptrol, and everything else. Fortunately the all work on the same principle. The cut-in pressure is the low pressure limit that tells the pump when to turn on, the cut-out is the high pressure that tells the pump when to turn off. The differential is the difference between the two, usually about 20 PSI.

To some extent, the cut-in/cut-out pressures are predetermined when the switch is manufactured. If your pressure switch specifies a range of 20 to 40 PSI, then you will not be able to make it run at 40 to 60 PSI no matter how much you adjust it. That is because the switch operates using an internal spring to select it’s cut-in/cut-out. In order to make a lower pressure switch operate at a much higher pressure, the spring would have to be replaced, and you might as well replace the whole switch if you are going to that trouble. You can however, make adjustments in the 5 to 10 PSI range using the adjustment screws on the switch.

Square D pumptrol pressure switchSafety note: See those wire screw terminals there? That is 240 VAC, so you want to turn off the breaker before you go poking around with a screw driver.
There are two pressure adjustment screws; one will adjust the cut-in and cut-out pressure, the other will only effect the cut-out. On a pumptrol switch, these screws are called number 1 (cut-in and cut-out) and number 2 (cut-out only). Those folks at square D are clever that way. To increase the cut-in and cut-out, turn screw number one clockwise, to decrease turn counter clockwise. To increase the cut-out pressure only, turn screw number 2 clockwise, to decrease, turn counter clockwise. Most every pressure switch works the same way.

Made in China pump pressure switchThe jet pump did not have a Square D pressure switch, it has something that looks like it was made in China. I was thinking it would not be difficult to replace it with a better switch, but then I thought, why bother? I am going to be putting the new well on line soon anyway, right? Right.

Update: This is a picture of the pressure switch with the wires attached. The diagram that comes with the switch shows a slightly different way to wire it, either way will work. I like to match colors so that the red wire is connected to the red wire, etc. Then again, thats just me, I suppose.

The Goulds 1/2 HP J5s pump had very loud bearings, perhaps because it had been repeatedly submerged by basement flooding over its life time. It seemed to work fine, but in the middle of the night, when the water filter was back washing. The noise in our daughter’s room, directly above the pump, was quite obnoxious. I thought about replacing the motor, but decided it was worth it to replace the whole pump instead.

One day I took the bull by the horns and purchased a new Myers QD shallow well jet pump to replace the aging, noisy pump in the basement.

After I got the pump home, I notice the box had been opened. A Minor detail I thought.

First I removed the old pump. I closed the shut off valve and turned off the circuit breaker. Then I drained the pump case and water line into a pail. I had to hacksaw the pipe between the pump and the water tank because there was no union. I then removed the pressure gauge, chemical feed line, and the electric wires.

The old pump was sitting on a couple of cinder blocks with a rotten piece of plywood under it. It was not bolted down to anything. I made a pump stand out of pressure treated 2 x 4s and attached some uni-strut to bolt the new pump to. I also ran a new electric line using 12/3 MC to the breaker box and installed a 2 pole 240 volt shut off switch. Before I connected the electric, I made sure the pump was set for 240 volts, the default setting was 110 volts.

I got the pump all bolted down nice and snug. Then I connected the 3/4 inch water line to the tank. I made sure that I put a union in between the shut off valve and the tank. I used new threaded brass adaptors to transition the 1 1/2 inch pump output to the 3/4 inch copper water tank pipe.

I then connected the PEX from the well to the input side of the pump and primed. Most Jet pumps need to be primed before they will generate enough suction to pull the water out of the well. The priming port on the top of the pump casing allows the pump to be filled with water before turning it on.

I happily watched the pump run, the water pressure in the tank started going up, the pump shut off, all is well. I wiped up all the water on the floor, put away all the tools and just before I turned out the light, wait a minute, here is another puddle of water.

Got the rags back out, wiped up the water then I noticed the bolts on the pump casing had a little scuffing on them. Drip, Drip, Drip a nice steady drip of water from the pump casing where it was bolted to the motor. Ah-Ha! That is why the box was open, the casing leaks.

Drain the pump, disconnect the electric, the chemical feed, remove the gauges, pull off the water lines, and write “LEAKS” on the pump motor in big letters with a sharpie. Box it back up and head out to the hardware store. I was a little miffed.

I spoke with the manager, who got me another pump and took 15 percent off of the price for my troubles. I told him that the returned pump had to be sent back to the manufacture and that I had written

With older non-bladder tanks, you must add air every so often to replace the air that escapes, otherwise your pump will run too often risking a motor burnout. This is called short cycling and it happens because there is no air cushion for the water to compress against so the tank has become water logged. The well pressure tank system works under the principle of gases can be compressed while liquids cannot. As water fills the tank, the air bubble at the top of the tank compresses, this pressure is what forces the water into the house’s plumbing system. For more information on water logged pressure tanks, read this post.

This is a typical installation, the well pump will be connected to the pipe in the right hand side of the picture. That pipe has a shut off valve and a union. The union is there so the pipe can be “broken” open if the tank ever needs to be replaced without actually cutting the pipe. I like unions, they make life easier in the future. That pipe is connect to the brass T fitting which is connected to the tank. The brass T fitting is a specially designed tank adapter. You can make such a fitting yourself, but why bother when you buy one at a reasonable cost. The T fitting contains the pressure switch, pressure gauge, boiler drain and pressure relief valve.

On the other side of the T fitting is the pipe that feeds water to the house. On that pipe I soldered two stubs so that a water filter or water softener can be added later on. Again, I am all about making life easier in the future, when I think of it.

The directions for the pressure tank state that the pre-charge pressure must be adjusted according to the pressure switch. My switch gives a cut in (turn pump on) of 30 PSI (pounds per square inch) and a cutout (turn pump off) of 50 PSI. Therefore the precharge must be not more than 28 PSI, I may reduce it to 26 PSI to compensate for any error in the pressure switch. If the pressure switch setting were lower than the pressure tank pressure, then the tank would run out of water before the pump would turn on.

This is a list of parts for the pressure tank installation:

Amtrol 40 gallon captive air tank
Square D pumptrol pressure switch
Campbell pressure gauge
Lee brass pressure tank T adaptor
4 each 1 inch ball valves
4 each 1 inch unions
boiler drain
pressure relief valve

Once it stops raining around here and the ground dries out enough to dig a four foot deep trench we will finish this project by actually installing the well pump.

New pressure tank, waiting for water.On the new pressure tank I used 1 inch type L copper for all of the water supply lines. I included a stub off to the side with ball valves to install some sort of iron filter, since everyone around here has iron in their water. This time I think I will get a green sand filter instead of using the chlorine injection system we currently have.I will keep the old well pump and pressure tank in place and use it for outside watering and car washing.Here is the parts inventory:

300 Feet 1 inch PEX pipe
1000 feet 12/2 pump wire
150 feet 10/3 UF direct burial wire
220 feet Endopure 3/8 inch polypropylene rope
1 HP Goulds 4″ 2 wire submersible pump #10GS10422
1 Campbell B-10X pitless adaptor
1 Campbell sanitary well cap, 6 inch casing
4 1 inch brass barbs
1 Campbell TS-40 torque boot
10 1 1/2 inch stainless hose clamps
1 Danfoss check valve
1 Amtrol 40 gallon captive air tank
1 Square D pumptrol pressure switch
1 Campbell pressure gauge
1 Lee brass pressure tank T adaptor
4 1 inch ball valves
4 1 inch unions
1 boiler drain
1 pressure relief valve
20 feet 1 inch type L copper pipe

Submersible well pumps come in two flavors, 2 wire and 3 wire. The difference is in where the pump control circuits are mounted. On a three wire pump, the pump controller is mounted at the water tank. A 2 wire pump has its control circuits on the pump motor down in the bottom of the well. The control circuits are needed engage a starter winding on the motor to get it spinning. Without the added torque or umph, the pump motor would not be able to push the weight of the water up the well pipe and into the house.

Advantages of 2 wire verses 3 wire pumps are, less wire required, simpler to install. Disadvantages, if the pump controller goes out (buy a good pump) then the pump has to be pulled from the well.

The well is 223 feet deep, I plan to set the pump at 200 feet. The distance between the well and the pressure tank is about 80 feet. I have a 300 foot roll of 1 inch PEX pipe so I should have a few feet left over. I will use about 210 feet of the 1000 foot spool of 12/2 well pump wire. The left over will go to my brother in law, Joe, who has a plumbing business. For the electrical run from the panel to the tank and from the tank to the well head I have 10/3 UF, which is direct burial wire.

I will enclose the PEX and the UF wire in 4 inch PVC waste drain pipe for the run between the house and the well head because the soil is very rocky and I don’t want anything poking holes in my well water supply pipe. This must be buried at least four feet deep to stay below the frost line. That is why I need an excavator.

Pump, sanitary cap, pitless adaptor, torque boot, installation adaptor laid out on my work bench

The pitless adaptor is a two part brass fitting that allows the well pump to be easilly removed from the well for service. The first part attaches to the well casing below the frost line, the second part to the well pump pipe. To install the pump, the second part slides into the first part and is sealed with an O ring. The top of the pitless adaptor is threaded also. This is so a adaptor pipe can be screwed in to facilitate installation and removal of the pump.

Update:It appears that there are two types of pitless adaptors, the slide type and the cable type. I have a slide type, which looks like this:
Both types have a treaded section on the top that the pump installer will use to pull the pitless adaptor apart and remove the pump (or install the pump) from the well. I made my own out of a 4 foot long piece of 1 inch black steel pipe with an eye hook on the top.

Others have suggested a T adaptor, which is similar. In either case, take into account the weight of the assembly and the water in the pipe when removing the pump. See below on how to calculate water weight in well pipe.

PEX pipe, 12/2 pump wire, 10/3 UF and safety rope.

To install the pump I will measure out 200 feet of PEX pipe, attach the pump and the torque boot. Then the electric wire and the safety rope will be attached, securing them to the pipe every 20 feet or so with electrical tape. The safety rope is required when pulling the pump out for service. As you can see below, once the well pipe fills up with water it will be very heavy. Relying on the well pipe to hold all of that weight could lead to problems, including a broken pipe and well pump sitting in the bottom of the well. A check valve is required at the top of the well before the pitless adaptor so when the well pump is not running, water from pipe will not spin the motor backwards which is bad for the motor bearings. The safety rope is threaded through an eye hole on the brass barbs on the pump and the pitless adaptor.To give you some idea of the weight of the pump, 200 feet of 1 inch pipe, and wire I worked out the following:The pump weighs 31 pounds.The 1000 foot wire spool weights 97.5 pounds. To find out how much the wire weighs per foot divide 97.5 pounds by 1000 feet which results in 0.0975 pounds per foot of wire. I will be using about 210 feet of wire, therefore the wire’s weight is 20.5 pounds.Two hundred feet of PEX pipe weighs about 10 pounds. The pipe has a 1 inch inside diameter. To find the area of the pipe, we times the radius squared by Pi or 3.1416. The area of the pipe is 0.7854 inches A one inch section of pipe has a volume of 0.7854 cubic inches. Times that result by 12 and we get 9.4248 cubic inches of water per foot. A cubic inch is 0.004329004 gallons. Continue to the next step, a one foot section of 1 inch ID pipe contains 0.0408 gallons of water. Two hundred feet of 1 inch pipe contains 8.16 Gallons of water. A gallon of water weighs 8.33 pounds, therefore the water in 200 feet of pipe will have a weight of 68 pounds. Add together the pump (31 pounds), the wire (20.5 pounds) the pipe (10 pounds) and water (68 pounds) and the result is 119.5 pounds. The 3/8 inch polypropylene safety rope has a working load of about 700 pounds, so it is within a safety factor of 2.Can you tell I was a little bored today?