The first question is, what is your current water pressure and why do you feel you need to increase it?

lazypup:

It's cycling 42lbs max - 30lbs min, on a deep well pump and I think something like 8Gal bladder. The pump works to much for a deep well, risky and costly if breaks.

The run is long servicing 2 homes(granny suite), one of which is a 2 story at 50ft run.

I'd set max to 50lbs and min to 25(I'll try low, I may leave it at 30 if my upstairs water is a trickle), which is about all I can do on a mixed piping system, (PCV,clamps,copper,etc.)

AndyF

Look on the cover for you pressure switch. You should see two index's. One for "cutin" and the other for "cut out".

Generally the cutin is on the same side as the large spring. That is the pressure where the pump stars and should be set at 40psi.

The cutout may be indexed in the actual cutout pressure or it may be indexed as a differential pressure.

If the scale has a 0 to 85psi range set it to 60psi.

if it has a 0 to 30 or maybe 0 to 40 range. Set it at 20psi.

The pump should then start at 40psi and continue running until the static head pressure reaches 60psi.

First of all, cut your power to the pump and drain your pressure tank. Check the air pressure making sure is is not water logged (a hole in the bladder). If that is OK...

There are two screws: tall and short. The short screw is for adjusting range 30-50psi or 30-60psi. The taller one is for setting the start/stop points. 30-50 or 40-60 once the range is set.

When you have determined what range and minimum, then adjust air pressure about two pounds below kickin for the pump.So if your range is 40-60, then air pressure should be around 38psi.

Does that answer your question?

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

The tall screw changes both the cut-in and cut-out switch settings equally; raises or lowers both together. The short one changes only the cut-out up or down.

Tightening (CW-right) either raises the pressure and loosening (CCW-left) either lowers the pressure.

All switches require a 20 psi minimum differential. I.E. 30/50, 40/60 etc.. All well water systems should have as most do, a 75 psi pressure relief valve on the pressure tank. It is not a good idea to set the pressure higher than 65 psi.

The pressure tank's precharge captive air pressure provides the power to move water when the pump is off.

Thereby it is critical to get it right based on the cut-in setting of the switch. You set it with no water in the tank. I.E 30/50 psi water pressure switch settings gets 29-28 psi air pressure with no water in the tank.

Incorrect air pressure is the primary cause of pressure tank failure.

It will cause short cycling of the pump and that is the primary cause of pump motor failure.

The best way to protect a pump is to install a CSV (www.CycleStopValve.com) They give you constant pressure and much longer pump life because they come on like all pumps but then run continuously until the water use falls to .5 gpm. Then the pressure rises to cut-out as it fills the tank and the pump shuts off.

ALL well pumps are rated for continuous duty. It takes more electric to start and stop a pump than if you keep it running once started.

All pressure switches are adjustable, yes even though.... you buy them today preset at 20/40, 30/50 or 40/60 psi. They are all the same switch; mostly Square D or Furnas. Furnas doesn't have the short spring screw, it has a bolt head and the switch is blue instead of Square D's gray.

The wider the differential of the switch (30-65 etc.) the more noticeable the pressure fluctuation is.

Andyf,

You said you thought the expansion tank was 8 gallons. If you want the pump to cycle less, you can install a larger expansion tank. This will let the pump run longer each cycle. If you decide to do this, make sure you get a tank with a poly liner similar to Well-X-Trol tanks. The expansion tanks for heating systems don't have a poly liner.

Dan Martyn