Water Pump Question

[cdnmatt]

Sorry for such a stupid question, but this is the first time I've ever lived in a house in Thailand, and have had a water pump.

If it ever runs continuously for too long, I know how to let out the air. That's about all I know regarding water pumps though. Right now though, it seems to be running for about 20 seconds every couple minutes, even when there's absolutely no water on. Is that normal? Or does that mean we have a leak somewhere? Or time for a new water pump? Or?

Thanks!

[MikeyIdea]

I bet yuo have a leak somewhere, that's the normal thing. If you have a valve close to the pump, then try to close it and see if the pump keeps quiet. Chances are that it will not...

[taurus88]

Yah, certainly a leak. Pump should not start up when there's no water to pump. I normally will switch it on only when I intend to use the pump.

[JusMe]

Yup, sure sounds like a leak.

I had a similar problem a few months ago. There's a thread about it all somewhere here on the DIY forum.

Ended up putting a branched valve after the water pump to the two pipes into the house, one to the bathroom and the other around to the kitchen. That was to determine where the leak was.

Bathroom was no problem; the leak was clearly in the underground pipe between the pump and the entrance to the kitchen around the corner of the house.

Rather than spending time and money digging the whole thing up, we put in an aboveground pipe along the side of the house. Easy access if there's ever another problem. Looks okay, and once it's painted the same as the house, almost unnoticeable.

Take a look at: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Water-Pump-Problem-t311068.html

[Edit to add thread link.]

Edited June 15, 2010 by JusMe

[Crossy]

Certainly sounds like a leak somewhere. Time to get out the divining rods (the army has some bomb detectors that may work).

Meanwhile, are there any valves you could use to help isolate the problem?

[gotlost]

Yea definitely a leak.

[cdnmatt]

Alright, thanks guys, I feared as much.

Well, I guess it's time to go leak hunting. Wish me luck!

[lopburi3]

Start with your toilets - that is most often the problem. You should be able to turn supply off on wall. If that stops pump working turn on and check the water level and if running out (top of tube) or can see anything going into toilet (leak from flapper valve). You can put some dye into water to make more visible if need be so you can see it going into bowl.

[longball53098]

Definitely sounds like a slow leak in the system somewhere. Toilet tank leaking into the bowl is always worth a check especially if an older system. You say the pump cycles about every 2 minutes so the toilet could be a culprit in this or a leaking sink or hose valve.If the pipes are in an older place almost any joint could also be leaking. As said try to isolate the different areas and turn them off and see what happens.

[cheshiremusicman]

Definitely sounds like a slow leak in the system somewhere. Toilet tank leaking into the bowl is always worth a check especially if an older system. You say the pump cycles about every 2 minutes so the toilet could be a culprit in this or a leaking sink or hose valve.If the pipes are in an older place almost any joint could also be leaking. As said try to isolate the different areas and turn them off and see what happens.

Had the same thing and eventually traced it to a 'T joint' that was unsupported under the house which had 'given up the ghost against gravity' and was leaking badly. Thai plumbing at its best.

Just as an aside, I must mention that I was called to a friends house about a year ago. He had water gushing out from under the kitchen sink unit. He's not very practical and didn't even know that he had a switch to turn off the water pump. The 'problem' turned out to be that someone had managed to fit a one inch pvc pipe into a half inch connector as amazing as that sounds. The way this had been done, was by melting the pipe and then forcing it into the connector !!.

The 'pipe' had an enormous 'bulge' on it and the pvc was wafer thin so eventually after some 3 years from the build it decided to go PLOP and blow a very neat hole in the ultra thin plastic and flood the kitchen and hallway = AMAZING THAILAND - AMAZING PLUMBING.