Pump Running No Water Coming Out
It's been a little while since I've written an article about this topic, but it is a very common symptom/maintenance issue that a lot of people deal with. If your lawn pump sound like it is running, but no water is coming out then your pump has most likely lost prime.
It is very common to have to prime your pump after it not running for a while (like being off for the winter) but if you have a good check valve or foot valve it should hold the prime regardless of how long the system has been off.
If you have a shallow well with a horizontal, centrifugal pump then you should have a check valve which is usually installed above ground. The most common place for the check valve to be on this kind of pump is usually right before the intake or suction side of the pump mounted horizontally. Some irrigation contractors install it on the well vertically before the well 90's (a 90 degree fitting) or turns to go to the intake of the pump.
If your well is a little bit deeper and it is further than 20 feet to water then you may have a vertical jet pump. This kind of pump requires a drop pipe (pipe inside of the well casing) and a foot valve mounted on the bottom of the drop pipe. In my area of Northwest Florida I would say that the average depth of the foot valve on the drop pipe is usually 40' to 60' (feet) down in the ground, depending on the depth of the well and the water table.
If you have a submersible pump, you may not even have a check valve or foot valve. It is common to have a check valve mounted near the bottom of the well with a submersible and actually many sub pumps come with a check valve installed. The chances are that if your submersible pump does have one, you may not even notice if it goes bad because this kind of pump is obviously submerged in the water and basically primes itself.
For a shallow well with a horizontal, centrifugal pump the check valve replacement is fairly easy as long as you are comfortable with a little bit of plumbing. Many time the most difficult part of this is wrestling old rusty metal fittings off.
Replacing a foot valve requires a lot more work than replacing a foot valve. This is mainly due to the process of extracting the drop pipe out of the well, which can be a pain in the a** sometimes. Once you get the drop pipe out, replacing the foot valve is usually not that hard. If you have never done this, you will definitely want to hire someone to do it, or have a friend with you to help who has done it before.
Keep an eye on your sprinkler system when it is supposed to be running because it the check valve or foot valve does go bad, the pump will be running 'dry'. This is not good because it can burn up the shaft seal(s) or just burn up the motor completely. If this happens then you will be buying a new pump motor or a complete pump depending on the damage.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Scott
http://www.autolawnsprinklers.com
It is very common to have to prime your pump after it not running for a while (like being off for the winter) but if you have a good check valve or foot valve it should hold the prime regardless of how long the system has been off.
If you have a shallow well with a horizontal, centrifugal pump then you should have a check valve which is usually installed above ground. The most common place for the check valve to be on this kind of pump is usually right before the intake or suction side of the pump mounted horizontally. Some irrigation contractors install it on the well vertically before the well 90's (a 90 degree fitting) or turns to go to the intake of the pump.
If your well is a little bit deeper and it is further than 20 feet to water then you may have a vertical jet pump. This kind of pump requires a drop pipe (pipe inside of the well casing) and a foot valve mounted on the bottom of the drop pipe. In my area of Northwest Florida I would say that the average depth of the foot valve on the drop pipe is usually 40' to 60' (feet) down in the ground, depending on the depth of the well and the water table.
If you have a submersible pump, you may not even have a check valve or foot valve. It is common to have a check valve mounted near the bottom of the well with a submersible and actually many sub pumps come with a check valve installed. The chances are that if your submersible pump does have one, you may not even notice if it goes bad because this kind of pump is obviously submerged in the water and basically primes itself.
For a shallow well with a horizontal, centrifugal pump the check valve replacement is fairly easy as long as you are comfortable with a little bit of plumbing. Many time the most difficult part of this is wrestling old rusty metal fittings off.
Replacing a foot valve requires a lot more work than replacing a foot valve. This is mainly due to the process of extracting the drop pipe out of the well, which can be a pain in the a** sometimes. Once you get the drop pipe out, replacing the foot valve is usually not that hard. If you have never done this, you will definitely want to hire someone to do it, or have a friend with you to help who has done it before.
Keep an eye on your sprinkler system when it is supposed to be running because it the check valve or foot valve does go bad, the pump will be running 'dry'. This is not good because it can burn up the shaft seal(s) or just burn up the motor completely. If this happens then you will be buying a new pump motor or a complete pump depending on the damage.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.
Scott
http://www.autolawnsprinklers.com
posted by Irrigationman at
7:29 PM
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