On Fri, 17 Sep 2010 07:19:14 -0400, Bill who putters wrote:
I've had the check valve fail in the past which sort of resembles a
leak. It is a leak but internal.

Interesting - do they always have such valves integral to the pump? We've
got a jet pump on an 80' 2" well; once I did have the water shut off for
a couple of hours while I was working on the water heater, and the pump
spluttered (and threw out a few bits of sediment amongst the water) for a
couple of minutes after I turned it back on until it sorted itself out.
That surprised me because I expected the pump body to still be primed.

Maybe that's natural behavior - but maybe it could also be explained by a
check valve that's not working properly?

(our pump and motor are dated 1977, so if there is an integral valve it's
getting a little on the old side!)

cheers

Jules