Depressurizing the Garden System
Now that’s the irrigation system depressurized.
I can turn on the valve from the tank now and we’ll go in to the shed and turn the tank pump on.
First let’s turn on some valves (slowly) here and see what happens.
This valve goes to the hose bib that was outside. I’ve got a check valve here so water shouldn’t be able to come backwards from the well irrigation side into the tank pump side.
If I open this one there should be no water as well.
Troubleshooting The Jet Pump
We’ve got the tank pump primed — one more try here.
Well I think I got a few leaks here — I might have to fix those first.
Looks like around these fittings that came from factory so I’ll have to investigate that. It looks like they’re dripping a little bit.
So after quite a bit of troubleshooting this afternoon I just couldn’t figure out why the pump wasn’t drawing water from the tank, or holding pressure.
The section of pipe here I put in in Part One had two holes in it and I didn’t realize that. It’s some used pipe that I found in the back.
I replaced this section and now it’s drawing water from the tank — and it’s holding pressure.
Pressure Tank Fitting Repair
So I pulled the pump out of the shed because I have a leak right here at this fitting. This T-fitting has a pipe that runs into the pressure tank.
I’ve been using teflon tape on all my fittings to make sure that they don’t leak but, to get this fitting so it doesn’t leak I have to tighten it this far. Which is just too far to work.
And then this hose that runs to the pressure tank then basically twists and wrinkles — and I can’t have that. So, the problem is that this hose has these fittings that don’t spin.
So instead of using the teflon tape i’m going to take this apart and try it with some pipe thread compound to see if I can get this in the right position so it won’t leak.
Okay now I’m gonna put this where I think it’s going to be the best spot where it won’t kind of wrinkle — and so I get it right on that angle.
This thread compound is non-toxic and okay for potable water systems.
Hopefully I’ll get it so that when I spin this on this fitting ends up like that as well.
I don’t think I can go any further without causing it to bind again. I might have to almost leave it slightly loose for this to work.
We’ll let that set up and put it back in place.
There’s always going to be some water spilled always.
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All right we’ll try it with 10 psi first, check all our fittings, a bit more pressure.
I don’t know quite yet, a little bit more pressure — that’s about 42 pounds. I think this one still has to be tightened a bit more — it’s always something you know.
We’re going to pressurize the whole garden system.
I might have to adjust my pressure switch because i’m not getting quite to 50 here.
Still having a small leak right there and a little bit of a leak.
Well — I’ll just keep an eye on it, I might have to replace this t-fitting eventually.
There might be something wrong with it — I just don’t know.
Still got a small drip there even with the pipe dope.
Okay — final update with the pump. I did end up fixing this leak.
I took this fitting off one more time and replaced it with some teflon tape and it seems to be holding pressure now — so no leaks anywhere.
The system is holding pressure I still have to adjust the pressure switch a little bit to get up to 50 psi but, i’m happy with around the 45 or so that it reaches right now.
