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Bob F Bob F is offline
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Default Water pressure pump keeps turning on

On 6/7/2021 1:42 PM, Bob F wrote:
On 6/7/2021 12:58 PM, dan wrote:
On Mon, 7 Jun 2021 10:47:53 -0700, Bob F wrote:
If you set it too close to the limit the pump can provide, You will
likely end up with the failure again sooner than later. That's why I
suggest the extra turn.


Everything you say I can't ever disagree with.
Luckily it's nowhere near 52psi anymore.

It's 37 the one time I heard it go on today and then shut off 1-1/2
minutes
later. That's far enough away from 52 & yet still in the good range
for me.
Your readings are always questionable with tire gauges or any other
gauge. I have several tire gauges, and they vary by several PSI when
checking the same tire.


Yeah. I know. I know. This is a brass dial gauge. I don't want to even
test
it with a second gauge for the reason that then I'd always be wondering.

It would really be worth fixing the gauge on the
pump so you can glance at it once in a while as the pump turns off and
see that the shutoff PSI is not inching upwards.


Agree in concept. Fully agree in concept.

In practice the gauge has no leeway in the direction it's pointing as
it has
to go in tightly enough and then not too tight - and that position is
facing
the wrong way for convenience. Also it's less than a foot off the floor.

It's not easy to see under those conditions.

Plus to clean out the pump at this point probably necessitates taking the
pump apart and the damage I could cause doing that is worse than the
lack of
a gauge (the pump side is built with solid steel like a Sherman tank).

At this point, thanks to following your advice, I've lowered the shutoff
point low enough to prove the switch is working (in practice) even
though I
don't yet know the turnon pressure yet nor the range.

I marked the bolts (they don't turn) and twisted each nut five full turns
CCW which loosened the pressure on the springs which are pushing the
pressure plate down which the pressure from the pump tries to push up.

Assuming 2psi per turn I lowered the start point by 10 psi (big bolt)
and I
lowered whatever range it had (nominally 20psi) by dropping the cutoff
point
by 10 psi.

I just realized the math sort of works out.

Assume the original range was 20psi and assume it was set at 40 to 60.
By dropping the range 10psi it would be set at 30 to 50.
By dropping the cutoff point by 10 psi it would be set at 30 to 40.

My one test of 37psi fits within that estimate.
I'll need time and events to figure this out any better.
I don't run the water much except when taking a long shower.
The wife & kids use water more than I do so it depends on their activity.

Overall, thank you and the others for your helpful advice.
Just the fact it's back to automatic is a weight off my shoulders.

That gives me time to decide what I need to do and to purchase.


I was glad to help.


One other gauge possibility. You can add a gauge anywhere on the water
pipes that an available fitting is installed that the gauge can be
adapted to for testing purposes, or you can get gauges with female hose
fitting that you can just screw onto a hose faucet. The reading my be
low if water is being used on the same line. You could even use a
reducer fitting where the plastic plug was on the pump, although that
may have readings that bounce around a lot when the pump is running.