On Sun, 6 Jun 2021 10:40:39 -0700, Bob F wrote:
What is your set cutoff pressure? Higher than 52? That would suggest the
pump is the problem. Otherwise, the pressure switch is not working
right. Take off the cover and see what it does.

The pressure switch has printing inside the cap saying it's 30 to 50psi.
The bladder is only at about 20 psi now (slowly dropping as I use a tester).
It doesn't seem to matter how long the pump runs - it tops out at 52psi.

The pipe to the switch to the pump carries water pressure to the switch
to active it.

It's critical for me to figure out if water or air is supposed to be in that
pipe that comes from the top of the pump and goes to the bottom of the
pressure switch.

If it's air, then that's the problem as I can feel the hissing.
But if it's supposed to be water - then there's a different problem.

If there is air coming out of it, that would be surprising
to me unless there is significant air leaking into the input side of the
pump to mix into the water being pumped. Any leak on it could affect the
switch sensing, but I would also expect it to leak water when the pump
is off, unless there is a check valve between the pump and the tank.

Now that I swapped the two 1 inch plugs there's no longer any water leak.
But the air leak exists and the pump doesn't shut off.

If
there is a closed valve or other restriction near the pump on that pipe
that only allows very small flow, the air leak could be lowering the
pressure seen at the switch.

The water valves to and away from the pump are open (save for the emergency
bypass water valve which is closed).


The hissing could be coming from an air bleed valve on the pipe from
pump the tank if there is air leakage on the input lines. Otherwise,
find and fix the leak to see if that is causing the problem.

Easier said than done.
It's an inch from the concrete in a maze of pipes.

The most important thing is to find out whether the pressure switch uses air
or water because if it's water something else must be wrong.

The gray cap says the switch is a "Pumptrol, SquareD, control circuit A600,
Type FSG-2, Form U, class 9013, Ser B, On 30, off 50" is all I know.

The first thing I'd look at is the pressure switch.

I agree. The pump isn't getting the signal to turn off.
It is getting a signal to turn on though.

Turn off the power.
Most of the ones I've used have a little nut at the top. Remove that and
lift the top off, to inspect the mechanism and contacts.

It's this one I'm pretty sure.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D...21BP/100183740

Look for two
contacts welded together. You can usually operate the switch mechanism
by pushing down or lifting up on the little metal plate the the bottom
of the big spring pushes against. The contacts should close when you
push down, and open when you lift up on that plate.

They all seem to work when I tested them with the power on using a
screwdriver to push. I think it's the air leaking.

I need to find out if air or water is supposed to be in that pipe.