Need water well Help...

[jesterdoc]

Alright, I'm at work right now. Wife just called and said she just got home and there's no water in the house. We live in the country and are on a well. She said earlier when she was trying to water the new plants it seemed like there wasn't very much pressure.

Could it be the well is drawn down? Pressure switch maybe? I don't know much about well maintenance. I was fortunate enough to grow up with a well that never gave any trouble and always worked.

Is there anything I can do to try to make the well better? I recall a thread about a sand bucket or something. Any help is greatly appreciated. I don't know that I can afford to have the well pulled, but I suppose if that's what it comes to I'll have to.

[old bob]

Might be a leak somewhere. Best way to check is to see if the pump is running when all the water is off at the house, or the (hydrants are off) if the pump keeps running then I would start looking for a leak. Also it might be ants on the switch they like to get on them. Hope this helps.

[CWKATTNER]

More than likely it is a capacitor or pressure switch stuck open. Have her turn breaker off in order to not damage pump if it is something else.

[doghouse]

Check the contacts on the pressure switch. Ants love to get between them.

[jesterdoc]

Well, she just called back to say that now there is water...

I'm thoroughly confused, don't quite know what to think is going on.

Could this point to the well level dropping and it took a while for the water table to fill back up? I don't know what to do.

[Draco]

I would check the points in the contactor to see if you have ants in it. They can burn up and it start working again.

[glpoe1]

If you don't know much about well systems and you don't have a neighbor / friend that can help you out then you need to call a well Service Tech. Your well could be pumping off or your couls have a control problem. If I were next door I would help but your a long way off. Good luck.

[jesterdoc]

I'm gonna need luck I think.

I think I'm gonna be calling a well service tomorrow.

[Team Porkchop]

I've had problems with my well, if I were u I would check the pressure switch and the points on the motor. Most of those switches are 30 to 50 switches meaning the motor kicks on at 30 turns off at 50 psi. If the motor does kick on and still no pressure than I would say u need to replace that seal on the suction of ur pump(sorry don't know the correct name of the seal) easy fix if u have a couple of buds to help. A way to check if ur seal needs to be replaced is to prime the pump and if the pump never fills up u have a leaking seal. I see u hunt on Garcitas Creek, my family and I own property there in La Salle, wish I was there now. Hope my info helps. It should take 5 to 10 gals to fill up that pump.

[gap shooter]

Contacts and I second those durn ants

[LosCuernosRanch]

Could be a bunch of things, some cheap and easy to fix and some very expensive. Get a pro to look at it, I have worked on wells for 17 years, understand the fix and don't let them start selling you parts in hopes it fixes the issue.

[jesterdoc]

Well, to paraphrase the saying around here, I did work Son.

After trying to troubleshoot it without success yesterday, we woke up to no agua this morning. None, not a drop.

Uh oh.

So I went out and did all the things "The Google" told me too and sure enough, pressure tank is full of water, 0 psi on the well, 2 psi on the tank. Troubleshoot the capacitor and it failed too.

So a not so quick and not so cheap trip to town later, my and my FIL started the job of replacing it. Replaced pressure tank with an 86 gallon, control box (capacitor was toast), pressure switch ( figured why not) and replumbed the whole thing. 6 hours later, We got water!

Wife is happy, I'm beat and well is fixed. Praise the Lord, I needed a victory today. Water well service was gonna charge $160 to come out and $110/hr, plus parts on top of it. I would of paid what I paid in parts today just in labor to them.

[ground level]

Read along on this one, and have experienced similar problems before, and it was either the inline filter clogged with sediment needing to be replaced or dang fire ants on the points. The only other time I couldn't figure it out was when after all the troubleshooting and double-checking, the well motor pump was shot, but it was the original pump that was installed in 85.

Glad yall got the problem fixed and I know how you and your family feels not to have water and a well is your only source except for maybe a 5 gallon jug of Ozarka or other.

[Grande06]

My water just shut off in the middle of my daughter's bath. I flipped breakers and went back in the house. Nothing happened, but about 30 min later water came on again. Seems like my tank is still empty, but I'll check it again in a few. I'm hoping it was just ants. I saw a few on the motor.