My Lawn Pump Keeps Loosing Its' Prime!
Those of you that have a lawn sprinkler system connected to a pump and well setup may have experienced a problem with your pump loosing its' prime. What this means is that the pump has lost the suction of water and now the pump is running dry.
If this problem is not caught quickly, your pump may continue to run dry and burn out the motor or spin off one of the impellers.
Re-priming most pumps is fairly easy. With the pump off, you take a water hose connected to an outside bib and fill up the volute (part of pump that holds water). Then turn the pump back on while continuing to run water into the pump until you hear the sound of the motor starting to smooth out, which usually means the pump is primed back up and lifting water again.
If you take the water off and then the pump does not spit out water within a minute, continue to force water back into the pump until it is lifting water from the well. After your sprinklers have run for a few minutes, turn the pump off and wait a few minutes before turning on again.
What we're doing is checking to see if the pump will hold its' prime. If you can turn the pump back on and it continues to deliver water, then you should be fine. You should check it the next day to see if it is holding the prime for a long period of time.
If after it has sat for several hours, or even just a few minutes and it has lost the prime again, then most likely you have a bad check valve or bad foot valve, depending on what kind of pump and well setup you have.
If you have a shallow well and horizontal pump, then you will need to replace the check valve, which is either a brass or PVC fitting that is usually installed directly before the inlet or suction side of the pump. To remove and replace, you need to cut the PVC pipe free and use a big pipe wrench to loosen the check valve. To replace, simply install back in and glue the pipe back together. Make sure you have the flow the correct way; there are arrows on the check valve which point the direction for the flow of water.
If you have a jet pump, then your foot valve may need to be replaced. This is not as easy as replacing a check valve because it is located on a drop pipe near the bottom of the well. This requires you to lift up the pipe, which can be 30 Ft to over 100 feet deep! Not an easy task if you are inexperienced. The actually removal and replacement of the foot valve is similar to the check valve, the hardest part is usually getting to it!
For homeowners with horizontal pumps and check valves, I encourage you to do it yourself! For those with irrigation system pump and well setups that have foot valves, I would highly recommend hiring an experienced well driller or pump technician.
Scott Young
http://www.autolawnsprinklers.com
If this problem is not caught quickly, your pump may continue to run dry and burn out the motor or spin off one of the impellers.
Re-priming most pumps is fairly easy. With the pump off, you take a water hose connected to an outside bib and fill up the volute (part of pump that holds water). Then turn the pump back on while continuing to run water into the pump until you hear the sound of the motor starting to smooth out, which usually means the pump is primed back up and lifting water again.
If you take the water off and then the pump does not spit out water within a minute, continue to force water back into the pump until it is lifting water from the well. After your sprinklers have run for a few minutes, turn the pump off and wait a few minutes before turning on again.
What we're doing is checking to see if the pump will hold its' prime. If you can turn the pump back on and it continues to deliver water, then you should be fine. You should check it the next day to see if it is holding the prime for a long period of time.
If after it has sat for several hours, or even just a few minutes and it has lost the prime again, then most likely you have a bad check valve or bad foot valve, depending on what kind of pump and well setup you have.
If you have a shallow well and horizontal pump, then you will need to replace the check valve, which is either a brass or PVC fitting that is usually installed directly before the inlet or suction side of the pump. To remove and replace, you need to cut the PVC pipe free and use a big pipe wrench to loosen the check valve. To replace, simply install back in and glue the pipe back together. Make sure you have the flow the correct way; there are arrows on the check valve which point the direction for the flow of water.
If you have a jet pump, then your foot valve may need to be replaced. This is not as easy as replacing a check valve because it is located on a drop pipe near the bottom of the well. This requires you to lift up the pipe, which can be 30 Ft to over 100 feet deep! Not an easy task if you are inexperienced. The actually removal and replacement of the foot valve is similar to the check valve, the hardest part is usually getting to it!
For homeowners with horizontal pumps and check valves, I encourage you to do it yourself! For those with irrigation system pump and well setups that have foot valves, I would highly recommend hiring an experienced well driller or pump technician.
Scott Young
http://www.autolawnsprinklers.com
posted by Irrigationman at
4:16 PM
7 Comments:
My Lawn Pump Keeps Loosing Its' Prime...
Just like your title says, I keep losing the prime on my lawn sprinkler. The sprinkler is a horizontal, canal fed sprinkler (the pipe runs about 30 ft to the lake behind my house). I can primethe pump and get the sprinkler running, and even water my lawn for as long as needed.
But when I shut the sprinkler off manually, and leave it off for about an hour, the prime is lost at some point during that time period. When I flip the switch back on to check to see if the prime is holding, the prime is always lost.
I have replaced the PVC check valve (I have an all PVC fittings sprinkler system) and still it continues to loose it's prime. What should I do? Dig up the line running from the pump to the canal and look for leaks? I hope there is another way...
tired of priming,
CORY
I AM HAVING A SIMILAR ISSUE BUT A BIT MORE STRANGE. AFTER I PRIME MY PUMP it runs for a few minutes and then loses its prime while running. I suspect I must have an air leak in my suction lime or my pump impellers are erratic and need repairs. Any other ideas for me to check?
I have a Hydrotex 4000 six zone indexing system that went hay wire....it started leaking and will not switch zones. How do I replace my valve, can you provide me all the involve steps....I have an all PVC fitting sprinkler system, using well, with a horizontal pump.....thanks Primetime.
I have a prime problem that I'm almost certain is a leak somewhere in the suction side. My problem is locating the exact location of the leak, because it's about a 80' run to the lake! That's a lot of digging... I'm going to try and pressurize it with water and have the leak reveal itself.
Lawn guy broke the main pipe that leads down to the well. It was awhile before he got to fix it and now we cannot prime sprinklers. Do I just keep on trying to prime at the sprinkler pump or do I twist off the cap at the well pipe and put water in there.
Well also might be dry.?
Thanks for your help,
Carol
No Water to my sprinkler heads.
I have a lawn pump from a well. When i turn on the irrigation system i do not get water out of my sprinkler heads, but i can get water from a spigot located on the discharge side of the pump. So i know the pump is primed and sucking water. I just cant seem to get the water out of the sprinkler heads. any ideas? Could it be the indexing valve? the is the only other thing on the discharge side of the pump.
thanks,
phil
I can't see where to get the water into the pump to prime it. There's a PVC pipe coming out of the top of the reservoir. I tried getting the water into the spicket but it didn't work.
Also, the old sprinkler guy cut the pvc pipe on one of the zones "to relieve pressure", so that pipe is open and that zone doesn't get watered. It kept the prime for a year after he cut that pipe. But is that keeping the prime from coming back. Thanks so much. Pat
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