Dodgy water supply from the bore hole....

[mrsmojos]

Hiyah,
Looking for some advice regarding our bore hole.
For the last 2-3 months the water supply has been tapering off until it stops, then aftr 5 minutes it comes back to full strength with strong pressure and is fine, I can run the water, the hose-pipe, run a bath the lot!!
Last month I got the water company that maintains the pump to check it out, it was given a full service and the filter was changed.
They seemed to think the bore hole water level was running low - but surely that would mean a permanent reduction of water?
It has now gone that it stops when I fill the kettle first thing in the morning...any suggestions as to what it might be?
All advice greatly received!!

 

[Oliveau]

Strange that it only stops for 5 minutes. I don't have a borehole here but I do have a 32M deep well which sits on top of a small aquifer. When I water the garden in a dry summer it runs dry after about 90 minutes, but it slowly refills and I can run the pump to water again later in the day.I guess i get about 700l water at a time. I certainly wouldn't get full pressure again after only 5 minutes. I wonder if your pump has a thermal trip that's blowing - they don't take too long to reset.. That would indicate an electrical fault.
Can you get to the wiring of the pump to see if there is current when it stops? Find where the wiring is connected in the fuse box or whatever and put a meter on it, then open the tap and see what the meter shows.

 

[Pistonbroke]

Is the pump feeding a pressure vessel? If so the bladder inside may have failed or the minimum and maximum range on the pressure switch might need adjusting

 

[Wisconsonian]

Agree with the other two, this doesn't sound like a low water level issue, unless the pump people measured the level and didn't tell you that. I'd expect it to spit air if the level was dropping enough to lose pressure.

You'd need to understand the electric controls on the pump to know what is possible, but it's not complicated usually. Is a low pressure cut out a common installation there? here it would be unusual and you'd know the well had issues in the past before a low pressure cut out was installed.

The water level is not too hard to measure if you're creative, one way is to use a roll of 1/2" pex pipe and blow into the coiled end every ten feet as you drop it down the well, easy to tell once it's hit water, you won't blow through anymore, then pull up to get the exact level. Pex has foot markings usually. even if you don't want to take the cover off the well, you should be able to tell if the pump is running or not by listening at the top, or if it's a deep well, listen to the pipe closest to the well, a pencil against an earmuff will amplify the sound so it's obvious when the pump is running and not running.

I wouldn't expect to have to adjust the pressure switch so much, rather it could be worn, clogged, or jammed in such a way that it doesn't turn on correctly. Knowing when the pump is running will help diagnose that.