Water Pump on All Day/night

[n00dle]

On 5/17/2020 at 1:28 PM, Neeranam said:

Thanks for all the replies!

 

For the meantime, I just turn it off(bypass switch) at night.

 

It seems to be going on for just a couple of seconds but every minute or so.

 

We are in the city and don't really need the pump -  the only thing I like it for is a shower, and of course when there is no supply, which doesn't happen much these days in Khon Kaen.

 

My wife has an irrigation piping system in the garden but that on another circuit. 

 

I'll buy some food dye, that's a good idea. 

If its coming on that frequently you have a considerable leak. 

 

Mine tops up pressure once an hour or two for about 2-3 seconds. 

 

A bum gun with an old tap is the culprit. It drips about a bucket of water a day.

[bodga]

I  have long runs of  water  pipe 100m but did  it  all myself in hdpe no joints  no leaks, only  place it could leak is where it  joins the pvc and I  know exactly where that is, its also buried 3 foot  down and did  all joints myself sanded, cleaned with AAA thinner then glued with the SCG THICK  glue  not  that <deleted>  poor  green stuff. 9 years no leaks

[sometimewoodworker]

36 minutes ago, cauldlad said:

I would definitely recommend a manual pump with an on/off switch as opposed to an automatic one.

 

A few years ago we had an automatic pump. One day the water company turned the water off but ''forgot" to tell anyone!!

 

We had gone out for the day and the pump was trying to pump water from the mains that was not there. After a few hours the pump burnt out. Luckily the next door neighbour could smell the burning and leaned over our wall to pull the plug out!!

 

Now i just turn the manual pump on as necessary.

That is one of the reasons why your setup is illegal, it’s also dangerous to the water supply system.
 

The water company has no obligations to tell people they are cutting the water off though most consider it polite to do so.
 

It was completely your fault for putting a pump in that position. I hope you are now legal and didn’t just put in another pump.

A pump must always pump from a tank or your own well, never suck from the mains.

[n00dle]

22 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I tried this and after a few hours the water in the bowl was red. 

What to do now? 

Replace the hardware inside.

[n00dle]

Strangely, after reading this post I became aware yesterday of a buzzing noise I assumed was one of the neighbors running a battered air conditioner they rarely run.

 

I went outside and reailzed it was my pump turning over too slowly and it was scorching hot due to not being able to build up enough pressure to shut off.

 

I killed main power to it, put a fan on it to cool it down and popped the cap to release pressure from hot water inside.

 

I feared the tank had gotten low and the pump had run dry, but tank was full, so after it cooled I tried it again.

 

This time no pump action but a buzzing sound,  so I removed the pump cover so the plastic impeller external fan was showing to see if the pump had seized. 

 

It rotated freely, so I was lucky there, pump not seized. I flipped power back on and same buzzing. I gave the impeller fan a spin with a screw driver and the pump kicked in, but sounded kind of sickly.

 

So i popped the starting capacitor out, took it to one of our local motorcycle win, and 30 minutes later he was back with a new starting capacitor.

 

200 baht for the capacitor, 100 baht for the motorcycle guy and now the pump runs like new.

 

The capacitor was shot, and it seems that in addition to finally dying to the point where it did not have enough juice to kick the pump on, it was running the pump at a lover voltage than normal. Thus the pump was staying on longer and struggling to build up the needed pressure.

 

Once the capacitor was replaced, the pump has been working far better, and is far quieter now than it had been before.

 

I had been living in the phils while a friend rented my house, so I hadnt noticed the degradation ir change in sound, though I was aware the pump seemed much more active than I remembered and suspicious it was running a bit loud. I thought there might be a problem with the pressure valve, but that was in fine shape.

 

Over my years in thailand it seems I have gotten very handy with mitsubishi pressure pumps,but this was a first for me with the stsrt capacitor, it usually is a dead pressure valve or pump losing prime.

[bankruatsteve]

1 hour ago, cauldlad said:

the pump was trying to pump water from the mains that was not there.

I would definitely recommend not to pump directly from the mains!  It's illegal and nasty things can happen.  Get a tank.

[Pedrogaz]

I've had the same problem twice. Once was in the upstairs bathroom and the leak came down through the ceiling. We had to dig up the tiles to find the leak. The problem was that the piping joints had not been glued, simply pushed together.

The second was under an outside water faucet, and after digging up a ton of concrete we found the same problem...piping joint with no glue.

Amazing Thailand.

[Artisi]

5 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I would get the guy back who installed it.

Any DIY you do may void any guarantee/warranty

warranty from the local plumber HaHaHa 

[eero]

You need two backpressure valve, one between watertank and pump and one after outgoing water tupe from pump then is no proplem.  Before I had same proplem but not any more.

 

These valve are not expensive and the valve is made from messing

Best regards

Eero, Chaiyaphum

[Stevemercer]

19 hours ago, Andrew Dwyer said:

Yes, when that pump starts kicking in on its own it’s a lottery as to whether it’s an easy fix , as Neeranam’s hopefully is, or a full repipe !!

 

 

Wish you luck .

 

Yes, a few times I have been lucky. Part of my usual practice (after checking to see if a tap has been left on, checking for leaks etc, isolating the pump etc) has been to unscrew the inlet and outlets to the pump. Once some snail shells fell out of the valve thingy that holds the water pressure in the pump, and that fixed the problem. Another time, just unscrewing and screwing back the inlet/outlets fixed the problem.

 

Once I dug up all the buried pipes looking for leaks. I found a few small ones, fixed them, but the pump still cycled. 

 

 

[Artisi]

3 hours ago, eero said:

You need two backpressure valve, one between watertank and pump and one after outgoing water tupe from pump then is no proplem.  Before I had same proplem but not any more.

 

These valve are not expensive and the valve is made from messing

Best regards

Eero, Chaiyaphum

Why? 

Doesn't stop a leaky flush valve. 

[SAFETY FIRST]

4 hours ago, Artisi said:

9 hours ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

I would get the guy back who installed it.

Any DIY you do may void any guarantee/warranty

warranty from the local plumber HaHaHa 

I've always found if you pay what the contractors price that's quoted and give a tip after the job is done, the work done is guaranteed and if any issues develop they will return to repair free of charge.

But cheap charlie's will cut the price quoted and never give a tip and complain that no support was given if an issue develops. 

[Elkski]

I dont think sanding PVC is a good idea.  Primer yes.   I should appreciate my high water pressure and clean, aaward winning  drinkable water.  130 psi outside  taps amd sprinkler, but I regulate it to 55psi per Grohe inside. 

[rosst]

The propensity for running PVC pipes under and through concrete slabs, I always run a larger PVC outer and my pipe as an inner to ensure I can replace or repair. 

[Neeranam]

A miracle has happened! 

 

The pump works perfectly now after doing absolutely nothing! Maybe I'll tell the wife it was me looking at the bathroom ballcock ????

 

Thanks again for all the advice.

[lopburi3]

15 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

A miracle has happened! 

 

The pump works perfectly now after doing absolutely nothing! Maybe I'll tell the wife it was me looking at the bathroom ballcock ????

 

Thanks again for all the advice.

Actually it probably was - a grain of sand causing a slight leak and now it is gone due to your adjusting and testing.

 

If this is your home highly recommend you have shut off valves on all water lines as it makes troubleshooting much easier-and not need to turn off water to replace fixtures.  

 

Edited June 4, 2020 by lopburi3

[Wongkitlo]

On 5/21/2020 at 1:42 PM, Artisi said:

It means the rubber seal between the cistern and the bowl is leaking. 

Get Somchai the plumber in to replace the seal or the complete flush valve. 

New flush valve modern style only a few hundred baht.