Diagnostic FAQs on how to prime a water well pump set #4:

This article series describes how to prime a water pump to restore water pressure to a building by priming the well pump to restore the pump to operation after it has lost prime.

Q&A on Well Pump Priming Method: Try Using a Garden Hose

Recently-posted questions & answers about priming a well pump using water from an outside source: a hose from a neighbour

These questions and answers were posted originally either at PRIME the PUMP, HOW TO - topic home

On 2018-10-11 by (mod) - my well is filled again but when I turned the pump on it wasn't building pressure

Jerry

Assuming the pump is properly primed (search this website for PRIME the PUMP, HOW TO)
then if that's not the issue

You might need to remove and inspect the pump itself: running a pump dry can damage bearings or the impeller.

On 2018-10-11 y Jerry

So I was filling up my mud pit and forgot the water was running and dried the well. It's been a few days now and my well is filled again but when I turned the pump on it wasn't building pressure. What do i need to do?

On 2018-09-22 15:47:26.383637 by (mod) -

Chris:

Key is that the pump is turned OFF before opening a priming plug; otherwise if the pump turns on with the plug out you could get soaked and water will spray all over the place.

On 2018-09-22 14:22:45.928626 by Chris

Need to prime the well for my sprinkler system. Do I turn off electricity first and close the shut off valve before I poor water into the little hole.?thank you

On 2018-09-20 20:58:12.369821 by (mod) -

FRjoe

Thank you so much for the very very nice note. I work very hard to try to make our information authoritative, unbiased, and useful. So I'm really glad when a reader finds that an article works for them.

Your remarks will doubtless encourage other readers too.

By the way, while the right repair is to pull the foot valve and replace it, if the well is not hundreds of feet deep you might have success with a band-aid approach of adding a check valve at the pump or in the piping as close to the well as possible.

On 2018-09-20 17:50:53.220495 by frjoe

We have a Flotec jet pump with a two pipe system and a foot valve in the well. The foot valve is leaking so the pump cycles off and on frequently. We lost prime on the pump due to turning off the electricity to replace a circuit breaker in the house.

The manufacturer's instruction on priming the pump say to close the little valve on the pipe side of the pump, fill the little hole on the top of the pump with water, put the plug back in and then turn on the electricity ... over and over.

This does not work. I found your website and instructions on how to use a hose to prime the pump ...

and magic! It is very easy to do.

The only thing I had to do in addition was to loosen the plug on the pump a little to let air escape from the pump itself, as opening a faucet didn't get all the air out. THANKS!

On 2018-09-15 01:48:30.919697 by (mod) -

yes the total lift height needs to include the distance from the point at which water is picked up in your will to the point at which it is delivered in the building or to a pressure tank.

On 2018-09-11 12:36:08.387554 by Suzanne Corkum

We have a jet pump and a cistern which can run dry if there is very little rain in the summer.

We also have a shallow well which never runs dry regardless of how dry it is in the summer.

The reason we have never used this well is because it is located about 345 feet from our house and is slightly down hill from the house. My best estimate is the difference in height would be no more than 6 feet from the well to the house. I would like to switch to the well.

My jet pump Manuel says that maximum height is 25 feet. Would I have to include the height difference of the well to the house in my calculations of how far I could put the pipe down into the well? Would it be better to purchase a pump that has a head of 100 feet?

I notice that there are larger shallow well pumps that can be installed deeper into a well.

On 2018-05-16 by (mod) - The article/guide on re-establishing prime from a donor house worked perfectly

Mono

Thank you very much for the kind comment. We work hard to provide authoritative and un-biased information, so I'm especially grateful when a reader finds our website useful.

Editor

On 2018-05-14 by Mono Ceba

The article/guide on re-establishing prime from a donor house worked perfectly

. The detailed steps and suggestions were most helpful. I am aware of possible damage to the casing and/or well point....

have always been able to regain prime by shutting down for 15 mins or so. Not so today....but up and running again with your help. Thank You so much for posting this valuable information. Mono Ceba

On 2018-05-07 by (mod) - is there another valve that i may have forget to open or close?

First get your water source at hand

Then open and fill the pump chamber with water

Then close the chamber

Then turn on power.

If the pump can get water going you're set. If it spins and becomes air bound DO NOT keep the pump running as it may be damaged.

Instead you'll have to repeat the process.

The plug that you need to open to prime the pump is usually atop the impeller chamber but varies by pump brand and model.

I don't normally close any valve between pump and water tank - that may be unsafe.

But as long as the pump can send water into the pressure tank I would indeed be sure that all house water is OFF.

On 2018-05-07 by john

cottage pump i did this before but season go back to open my cottage i forget the first step to get my water pump going it is in a crawl space under my cottage ,

first i turn the power on to the pump put back the drain plug ,

now this is where i am having problems there is two open and shot off lever handle ,

one is on the hose leading from the well outside to let water in the pump which way the lever handle faces straight up and down or side ways ,

next lever handle is on another prime hose which i have the same problem as well ,

is there another valve that i may have forget to open or close , any idea to what i am doing wrong.

On 2018-04-23 21:44:58.302329 by (mod) -

I don't know what to make of S.'s comment/question. Sounds as if the pump is inadequate.

On 2018-04-23 16:32:45.571295 by S. AK.

The building is supplied from a well by a well pump with no storage tank.

The fixtures do not have flow rate when three or more fixtures i.e. flushing , showering , open sink are running at the same time. Pump sized to have proper flow rate value but not sure about pump head value

On 2018-02-28 04:38:07.534922 by (mod) -

Perhaps a bad check valve or foot valve or well pipe leak

On 2018-02-28 04:12:40.171926 by Micheal Boone

Prime Well Pump in 2 min is gone wnt hold a prime

On 2018-03-16 00:56:47.642534 by (mod) -

A broken impeller assembly or an impeller-motor-drive-shaft that has become disconneted.

On 2018-03-14 08:54:36.911928 by Richard O.A

What could be the cause of a priming water pump that is on and working but not pumping water to the tank.

On 2018-03-10 15:17:06.250206 by (mod) -

That's indeed inconvenient Jeff. I would perhaps try back-priming using the garden hose method - start at https://inspectapedia.com/water/Prime_The_Well_Pump.php

On 2018-03-10 03:27:47.297448 by jeff

Can a pump be primed if its mounted sideways? Making either inlet halfway up the chamber that needs filled.

On 2017-12-12 05:18:46.980824 by (mod) -

The pump priming procedure does not pressurize the system to 30 PSI or any other pressure. Instead what you were doing is attempting to fill the pump impeller chamber MV well piping. as you probably understand that's because if there is air in the system the pump will not be able to move water

at the continue reading recommendation at the end of this article you will see a link to an article on how to prime the pum

there you will find a a description of how to prime the well pump.

please take a look and let me know if you have further questions

On 2017-12-12 02:26:44.696310 by Anonymous

I am on a farm my well house is a hundred feet or better. I need to know when trying to prime the pump to 30 psi should I open all the valves in the house when trying or shut them all

On 2017-09-26 19:36:37.870668 by (mod) -

YOu could do that, Anon but the opening is quite small. I might check the pump body again for a priming port. Or tell me the pump brand and model and I'll take a look at it.

On 2017-09-26 16:05:49.408160 by Anonymous

Tk u your article helped. If there is no place to prime remove gauge and prime from there.

On 2017-07-05 14:17:41.617512 by (mod) -

You might get water back by priming the pump, but you will soon need to find and fix the reason for lost prime, such as a leaky foot valve.

On 2017-07-05 03:04:22.933797 by Tabatha

My well pressure tank is empty...everything has been working fine, until tonight I went to run water in the bathtub and it was pushing air and a little water. I went out and shut the pump off I knocked on the tank and it's empty. How do I fix this? Is it empty because it needs to be primed??

On 2017-04-21 21:24:49.959689 by (mod) -

Janet:

I suspect the priming problem is because of a bad foot valve in the well - water you use to try to prime the pump runs back into the well. Or there may be an air or water leak in the piping or right at the pump itself.

If you're sure the system is primed then you need to check the water level in the well.

On 2017-04-21 12:48:54.163560 by Janet

We have 2 mobile homes hooked to the same well, one we can get water but it won't shut off(the pump) the other we have bought 2 new pumps and tried, but it won't prime. pump during priming only looses a 1/4 cup of water

On 2017-04-08 19:34:18.291779 by (mod) -

Kitty:

If the pump is full already then the problem is not getting water into the pump, it's somewhere else. Be sure that the shutoff valve (if there is one) between pump outlet and pressure tank water inlet is OPEN.

You didn't let the pump run "dry" did you? Some pumps will suffer impeller damage if run dry for a time.

On 2017-04-07 23:27:18.761062 by Kitty

We just installed a new pump and tank on our well today it's a shallow well and we're having a hard time priming it and when we take the plug off the pump to allegedly put more water in it the water line is full do you know what's going on and how we can fix it

On 2017-03-18 18:03:04.919682 by (mod) -

Yep; perhaps before your system's foot valve or well piping wasn't leaking.

On 2017-03-18 16:30:08.480758 by Anonymous

Thank u. I was thinking it was going down line but never had this issues before. So thanks again I will check this out

On 2017-03-18 16:13:07.831752 by (mod) -

L:

I suspect that you're filling a jet pump that has no check valve at the pump, so your priming water is running down the pipe back into the well. If the foot valve in the well is not working, then you'll never get the pump primed by simple manual filling.

First try priming the well by garden hose if you have a nearby independent water source - search (use the box just above) PRIME THE PUMP WITH GARDEN HOSE to see details.

Else you can try to pour say 5-gallons slowly through the pump priming opening: if you never see the water level drop rate slow or stop, you may have to have your plumber install a new check valve or foot valve.

On 2017-03-18 16:00:48.519018 by Anonymous

ThT question from lsdclinton @yahoo.com

On 2017-03-18 15:59:09.200754 by Anonymous

I keep putting water in housing but it don't seem to fill up. What should I look for

On 2017-11-29 18:26:15.148954 by (mod) -

Anon

When pressure falls off slowly after the pump stops we have water running somewhere: a running toilet, a supply pipe leak, or on occasion a leaky check valve or foot valve or a leak in piping between well and building.

Try turning off water into the building: if pressure does not fall we know the problem is in the building.

On 2017-11-29 16:02:51.856036 by Anonymous

I recently replaced my pressure gauge and after turning the well back on I have low pressure to the building.

Pressure switch shuts off at 42 psi, slowly falls to around 34, low pressure to building (good for 3 seconds then falls to almost nothing), pump kicks on at 20 psi to fill tank back up.

I don't think there is a leak. I was told my pump may have lost its prime but this article says submersible pumps are self priming. What could be the cause of my low water pressure to the building?

On 2017-08-10 18:41:09.365860 by (mod) -

Gregory,

At at WATER PUMP PRIMING PROCEDURE we describe how to re-prime the pump.

When your pump keeps losing prime it makes sense to figure out where the leak is located so that you don't have to keep repeating the process.

Typically that's a bad foot valve or bad check valve, sometimes it's a leak in the well piping or even an air leak into the pump right at a mating surface or bad gasket at the pump housing itself.

Start by tightening all the well piping connections you can access, adding a hose clamp if needed.

Or see PUMP PRIME, REPEATED LOSS of if you can't keep the pump primed

You can Use the on-page search box at the top or bottom of this page to find either of those articles written in UPPER CASE

On 2017-08-06 13:31:44.925064 by Gregory less e

My water pump lose prime an now want prime up what can I do

On 2018-01-10 by (mod) - adding a check valve to stop loss of pump prime? avoid pulling the pipes?

Michael

If the intermittent cycling is half an hour or an hour apart you're not burning up the pump you're just wasting some electricity.

With a two line jet pump if you lose water out of the piping, as can happen if there is a combination of power outage (pump never comes on to keep pressure in the system) and a well piping leak, you will lose prime, lose water pressure, and will have to re-prime the pump.

You could install check valves (in the right direction) on both the up and down water lines, but if there is a leak below that point you may still lose prime.

So turning off the system at night risks loss of prime too.

At the very least I would visit and tighten every readily-accessible pipe connection to see if that helps.

Sometimes on plastic piping I add a second stainless steel hose connector at each joint where I suspect one of them (don't know which) is leaking.

On 2018-01-10 by Michael Updegraff

Yeah, the AVC was a hopeful shot in the dark. I replaced it and eliminated the dripping problem, but we're (of course) still cycling (ableit less frequently, for some reason).

I'd love to put the issue off until springtime when it isn't 0 degrees F outside, the thought of pulling well piping right now is not a pleasant one. I've seen a fix with shallow-well setups that involves putting a check valve right next to the pump when the foot valve malfunctions, but I'm guessing there is no way to do such a thing with a 2-line deep well setup?

Maybe I could simply install a valve on each line just before the pump and shut the whole system down at night (including killing the pump at the breaker) so we don't have to listen to the regular cycling. Any ideas?

On 2018-01-06 by (mod) - where is the check valve on a pump and well system?

So the check valve is the foot valve, or for very deep wells there can be several check valves on the riser pipe.

A leaky AVC will lose the air charge in the pressure tank and can lead to pump short cycling but it'd have to be a heck of a leak to lose well prime.
I'm not familiar with a failure in the AVC that would cause loss of well prime.

It's common for an AVC to make noise at each pump on/off cycle as it's admitting air to the pressure tank.

On 2018-01-06 by Michael Updegraff

Thank you for your response! It's a Goulds J5 pump, set up in deep-well configuration (2 lines).
This might be an odd idea, but could the air volume control be the issue?

We've noticed it dripping intermittently, and we definitely hear a squeaking/bubbling noise through it between pump cycles. If the internal diaphragm has a leak, couldn't the suction line from the pump be releasing system pressure?

On 2018-01-05 by (mod) - how to use a vacuum gauge to check well pump operation

Losing prime during power outage usually means there is a leak in well piping or a bad foot valve. Since the replacement of a foot valve requires pulling the piping, that's the time to inspect the pipe too to assure it's not damaged and leaking.

The Goulds J+2 is a convertible pump that can be used on either shallow (one line ) or deep (2 line) wells. I can't tell from your note which type of well you have.

The Goulds RJ-JS R2 series do not use an internal check valve (based on looking at the parts list for this pump series)

The Goulds JRS, JRD, JB, HSJ and some other models pumps do use an internal check valve.

SO we need to know the pump model from your pump's data tag.

Here is the GOULDS WELL PUMP MANUAL [PDF] that should cover your Goulds J Pump

That document discusses check valves - it doesn't sound as if the pump itself includes a valve. I excerpt:

Shallow wells:

On sand points or driven wells you can install an in-line check valve near the well head or at the pump and use the well casing as the suction pipe. The closer the check valve is to the well the easier the system will prime.

The company offers these helpful pump diagnostic procedures:

CHECKING SUCTION LIFT ON A SHALLOW WELL [using a vacuum gauge]

A vacuum gauge indicates Total Suction Lift (vertical lift + friction loss) in inches of mercury (Hg.).

One inch (1") on the gauge = 1.13 feet of total suction lift (based on a pump at sea level).

Practical suction lift at sea level is 25' or 22" Hg. Deduct 1 ft. for each 1000 ft. above sea level.

Install the compound vacuum/pressure gauge in the 1 ⁄8" hole in the shallow well adapter or the 1 ⁄8" hole between the suction and discharge pipes on a dedicated shallow well pump.

This is the same hole that is used to connect an air volume control.

Interpreting the vacuum gauge readings:

High Vacuum (22" or more)

• Suction pipe buried in mud
• Foot valve or check valve stuck closed
• Suction lift exceeds lift capability of pump

Low Vacuum or 0 vacuum

• Suction pipe not submerged
• Suction leak (check joints and especially unions)

Gauge needle fluctuates rapidly

• Gaseous well
• Air leak in suction line
• Well producing less than pump capacity (throttle a ball valve in suction line do not exceed 22" Hg.) to ...

On 2018-01-05 by Michael Updegraff

Hello, I have a Goulds J+ 2 line pump setup with a galvanized tank in our basement, drawing from a well approximately 100' away. I don't know the depth of the well. Last winter we began noticing the pump running from time to time with no water being used in the house (maybe once every 10 or 12 minutes).

During several power outages, the pump lost prime and had to be re-primed. I found, though, that after re-priming it would cycle less frequently. It went back to normal over the summer, not cycling at all unless water was turned on in the house.

Now the cycling condition has returned, currently running for a minute every five minutes. Do you know if this pump has an internal check valve? If not, might adding a check valve between the pump and the well fix this situation? Or should I just assume the problem is the foot valve? Basically, it's below zero outside and I would like to avoid pulling my well lines.

...

Continue reading at PRIME the PUMP, HOW TO through the pump priming plug If you do not have such a source available, we provide alternative methods, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see WATER PUMP PRIMING DIAGNOSTIC FAQs - set #1 of Q&A on how to prime the pump

Or see these

Recommended Articles

• WATER PRESSURE LOSS DIAGNOSIS & REPAIR - home
  • MUNICIPAL WATER PRESSURE DIAGNOSIS - If your water supply is from a city or municipal water system
  • WATER PRESSURE PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS TABLE - succinct guide to pump & well problem causes & cures
  • WATER PRESSURE TABLE 1: PUMP WON'T RUN, WON'T STOP, or CYCLES
  • WATER PRESSURE TABLE 2: PUMP RUNS, WEAK or NO WATER PRESSURE
  • WATER PRESSURE TABLE 3: PUMP RUNS, NO WATER or INSUFFICIENT WATER
• WATER PUMP PRIMING PROCEDURE
• WATER PUMP REPAIR GUIDE - home

 

Suggested citation for this web page

WELL PUMP PRIMING PROCEDURE Q&A-4 at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to WATER SUPPLY, PUMPS TANKS WELLS

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