On Sat, 5 Jun 2021 06:15:27 -0700 (PDT), Dean Hoffman wrote:
Do you know what the pressure readings are when it kicks on and
when it kicks off?

Good question.

All I know is that I tested the bladder pressure with a bicycle PSI meter
when I recently replaced a "plug" that blew out in the back of the water
pump.

That 1-inch diameter pipe plug was white plastic and it apparently worked
its way out over time (probably since the pump was put there decades ago).

Earlier this week I lost thousands of gallons of water out that open
one-inch threaded hole in the back of the pressure pump before I knew what
was happening.

I picked up a one inch galvanized plug from Home Depot but it wasn't tapered
so it wouldn't fit. I went to a plumbing specialty supply store which had
brass, galvanized, and what they called "black metal" tapered one inch
plugs.

I bought the brass (it just seemed better) but it screwed down almost the
entire way into the plug hole so it weeps a little bit of water. I had only
put maybe two or three wraps of Teflon tape so maybe I need to wrap it more.

Since I had the whole thing down for a day there was no pressure whatsoever
at the house so I measured the bladder pressure at 20 PSI (which I thought
was low but it's the lowest it will ever be because the water was out for a
day while I was running around to stores).

I don't know if it's the pressure switch so I'm looking up how to test that.
I will try to get some readings today as this problem only started after I
had replaced that one plug.

I don't think the white plastic 1-inch plug "blew out" by the way, but only
based on observation that the threads weren't stripped. It would screw back
in if I had wanted to re-use it, but it was also melted at one point and was
pin holed by that melt so I didn't want to risk re-using it.

You called it a booster pump. That implies that there is another pump
ahead of it. Is that right?

I don't know what to call it but it's the only pressure pump.
The water comes from the well to the tanks by one pump.
And then the tanks feed what I'm calling the booster pump.
I guess I should call it a pressure pump instead.

The pressure pump has an on/off pressure switch on it.
That pressure switch turns the pressure pump on and off.

From there it goes into a human sized pressure tank with a bladder.
The air valve on top read 22psi when the pipes were open so it can't get
lower than that. The 22psi is the pressure inside the air bladder.

I think it's supposed to be maybe 10 pounds higher so I can pump it up once
I check that out. I wonder if that alone caused the problem but I haven't
touched that part of the system and it wasn't happening (that I know of)
before I replaced the plugs.

But I can't see how replacing the plugs caused the problem either.
I haven't measured the water pressure at the house but it spurts out good.

Is it pumping air? My first off the wall guess would be a pressure switch
malfunction.

I don't know if it's pumping air but I don't think there is air in this
system other than, perhaps, maybe the weeping brass plug is causing air to
be sucked in.

Thanks for your questions.
Today I'm going to run a pressure test.