Well Pump Maintenance

 

DENNIS: Hi, there. Well, I have a home that uses well water and it’s driven by a pressure pump. Every three to five minutes I can hear the pressure pump kicking in, cycling on and off without any use of water in the home and there’s no apparent leaks anywhere in the home either.

 

TOM: Sounds like you have a bad pressure switch; either that or your pressure tank is waterlogged.

 

DENNIS: Oh.

 

TOM: Because what happens is the water comes up and then it basically settles back down the well and the pressure drops and it comes back on again. So it’s either the pressure tank or it’s the pressure switch. I would call your – do you have a service company that takes care of the equipment for you?

 

DENNIS: Not yet but I do have a plumber that I deal with on a regular basis.

 

TOM: Well, as long as the plumber works with well pumps because they’re fairly specialized. If he works with well pumps this should be an easy fix. Because it definitely shouldn’t – it should not be running that frequently.

 

DENNIS: So this is not something you’d recommend that I could try to tackle on my own?

 

TOM: Probably not. Probably not.

 

DENNIS: OK.

 

TOM: Not a good place to start; especially, you know, with your water supply. If you do something wrong your house is going to be dry and it’s going to make everybody grumpy, Dennis. Alright?

 

DENNIS: (chuckles) That sounds like a great suggestion.

 

TOM: Yeah.

 

DENNIS: Thank you very much.

 

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.