Well pump questions
 

Seems you guys know everything so I will take a shot.
I got a huge electric bill so I went around the house checking stuff. I found the well pump running constantly. Not building any pressure according to the gauge. I turned the pump off and I could hear the water draining out of the system so I turned the pump back on.
Any ideas or experience?

You may need a check valve. It should run on demand only. Do you have a storage tank? If so maybe a float level sensor that tells the pump to shut off.

I'm guessing you are still getting water? Is the pressure at the faucets, normal? Check/replace the gauge. If the pressure is low and/or the gauge is accurate, your ground water level may be low and your pump may be sucking some air, too; or, you may have a crack/leak in the pipe bringing water to ground level; or you may have a crack in the pipe serving the house. Look for water traces. Check valves are at ground level and hold the water from going back down the server pipe. That may cause your problem, but I'm unsure of that. The pump is normally set to stop and start at a certain water pressures, so once the set water pressure is reached, it would turn off, even if only for a few seconds if the check valve wasn't working. Is your pressure regulator working properly? The pump regulator on/off box may need to be replaced. Square D makes those. That is a start.

What type of well pump.......submersible or ground level ? If submersible sounds like the check valve in the pump is bad allowing water to drain back. If it's a surface type pump ( shallow well ) then the check valve in the line is bad. Also a bad rubber bladder in the pressure tank can cause similar issues.

1) Is this for your irrigation or your domestic water use....or both?

2) Do you have a pressure tank setup (runs only when pressure drops below certain level)?

3) If this is for your irrigation - do you have a mechanical timer or digital?

4) What type of pump (centrifugal, jet, etc., what brand, how large (HP), and how old is it?

A pic would be helpful but not an absolute.

I specialize in well systems

This is a super common problem...you have an obvious leak in the well (basically it's like you have a faucet wide open in the well) which is not allowing you to build enough pressure to satisfy the pressure switch

It will need to be pulled and repaired asap before the leak is large enough and you get no pressure

No pressure? And the first you noticed was the electric bill? There must be pressure or you wouldn't be getting any water. There is ether a massive leak, faucet open somewhere, etc or the pump inlet is clogged or the pump itself is worn out and is so inefficient it can't pump enough to bring the pressure up to 60 psi to trip the limit switch.

Justin - can't a partially clogged foot valve screen cause the same symptoms?

A "surface type" does not have to be a shallow well, I'm pumping just short of 100 feet deep with a 3/4 hp jet pump..

From his description no it can not.....a foot valve is only on a jet pump system (he has not told us what kind of system he has

From the electric company side of things... check and see if you have demand charges on your bill. Not many residential rates include them but some do and some places consider well pumps as ag and could have demand charges.
The electric company I work for will often forgive a demand charge for something like this where broken equipment could have set high demand. If it's fixed, you won't have the same demand again so you certainly do not want to pay for that demand charge for the next 11 months!

You are correct, jet pumps are either: shallow well less than 25'
Deep well less than 100'

Most ppl don't understand jet pumps because they are obsolete now due to wells under 100' being illegal now

I'd have to say that's a local code, except for my well (125') there's very few wells over 75' deep here. I'd say most are 50'.
A friend of ours just put in a dug well 6 tiles deep, I think that's only around 20' deep and that's a health department permit legal well, ground water, not surface water.

I have a jet pump. My well was drilled in 1993 and it is 75 feet deep. That 100 ft regulation must be something local to you. I'm pretty sure you only have to get down to the aquifer, no matter how shallow it is.

Having a well guy come out today.
The well is 200' with a 3/4hp submersible pump for domestic water.
The pressure gauge holds steady at 30.
The expansion tank is empty.
Thanks for the heads up about the demand charge.

Turned out to be a stuck check valve. 30 minutes to replace. 250 bucks to have someone fix it. At least it is done. Now to go to work on the electric bill.

Interesting to read about such shallow wells in other parts of the country. My well is 500' with a 2 hp. pump. The water level is at 100', & it was rated at 40 gpm, which is pretty decent for around here. Wells in this area are all deep and vary a lot in their gpm ratings. My neighbor's well, which is about a hundred yards from mine produces 4 gpm. Everybody uses the well pump/storage tank/pressure pump/pressure tank combination. I don't hear much about problems with the systems, and haven't heard anything about any drying up.