Ants in my corn & my pump is loosing pressure

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

No it's not the title of a new country song. I went to pick my corn the other day and it was full of ants. And I was trying to water my tomatoes and my breaker keeps tripping and I loose pressure and the thing gets water logged. AHHH! I give up on the corn. But what to do about the water. I only use it for watering the animals unless it's hot and dry. Then I need to use it for watering everything. Do you suppose the motor is going and gets too hot.I don't know why the breakers keep tripping.Apparently it's the air pressure that's going and the water is filling up too much in the tank? I am totally ignorant about it.I am used to turning on the faucet and water comes out until I turn it off again.Help!??!

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), July 21, 2000

Answers

Bonnie:

There are several possibilities: the breaker is undersized for the load, the relay switch is stuck so the pump doesn't know when to shut down, there is an air leak in the line somewhere or the diaphram in the pressure tank may be bad. You need to get a plumber out to look at the situation.

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 22, 2000.


Check the contacts on the pump you may find the same Ants have invaded your pump. I once found a roach laying across the points on my pump thus shorting it out. Ants seem to be attacted to electricity. Is your pump submersible or above ground? Do you have another breaker of equal size you could switch out with? Breakers do go bad occasionly. Check the conections at the breaker also. Good Luck!

-- Mark (deadgoatman@webtv.net), July 22, 2000.

Submersible pump or not? Waterlogged, check your tank. If it has a diaphragm, check the top of the tank for a shrader (tire type air valve). It sounds like its just an irrigation pump. If so and if theres a shrader valve, empty the tank and put about twenty pounds of air in it if you run the system at 40psi. You'll have to give it a shot of air now and then, but its cheaper than replacing the diaphragm tank. If you have no shrader valve, empty the tank, and install one. Make sure the discharge valve from the pump is closed before you empty the tank and the discharge valve from the pressure tank is closed after its empty. Then break into the system, perhaps at the gauge on the tank and install a nipple in the hole where the guage went, a tee onto the nipple, the guage into one side of the tee and the shrader valve into the other side, then fill with 20# of air. You'll lose your air cushion if you use more water than you pump but with a little care you should be good to go again.

-- john leake (natlivent@pcpros.net), July 22, 2000.

Thanks fella's, It is not submersible. It is the pump in my well house. We sprang a leak in it last month.( not the pump, the tank ) just shut off the power and put a little JBWELD on it. That seemed to work. I havn't run the pump for very long in a long time. Just long enough to give a litle water to chickens and dogs. When this happened; I was trying to water garden.Water had run maybe 15 minutes when I realized for sure there was less pressure. Went to turn it off and the pump was not even working. My hubby says it is water logged. And there was a circuit breaker blown. We replaced it and got out the bicycle pump. The water worked fine for a few minutes and it happened again. Got water logged and circuit breaker blown. Does that help any? We know a plumber but didn't want to bother him.He is a friend and that is an option but want to try to fix it ourselves if we can. You know, if it is something simple.Thank ya'll so much for all yer help.

-- Bonnie (josabo1@juno.com), July 23, 2000.

Moderation questions? read the FAQ