Yes, lots of possibilities for leaks. I will be exploring them today. Thanks for the tips for finding the location. This setup uses 300psi 1" black poly pipe on a 25 ft drop, and then about 1200 ft run of the same pipe up 220ft elevation to the tanks up the hill with the house about 36ft below the tanks with only gravity feed (16 psi). All connections on the poly pipe are made with long stainless barb fittings with T-bolt clamps, pretty bomb proof stuff. There is a pitless adapter into the well casing, I will check that for sure under pressure. I'll also fix the check valve in the pump house. I seem to have a lot of issues with check valves, do they really fail so often? We do* not* have high mineral water. I've especially had issues with spring check valves and no longer use them. The one in my pump house is a swing check valve which I thought was pretty reliable. If I remember correctly, the check valve in these pumps is not replaceable. Fortunately, we actually have two wells, each with a 3SQF-2 pump that we can alternate for supply. I'll let you know what I find.
Way back in the '90's we had a customer with a solar pump that just would not perform. Even with a new pump, new control, check this and that, it just would not pump much water. It pumped fine when out of the well. The drop pipe did not have any obstruction. They finally ran the pump while it was out of the well with the drop pipe connected and under pressure, and discovered a crack in the PVC pipe that did not show up except under pressure. So leaks can indeed be hard to find. Brad On Sun, May 26, 2024 at 8:17 AM Jay via RE-wrenches < re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > Hi all > > Yes the pump won’t go backwards but it’s possible there could be some > leakage through the helical coil. > > But both check valves have to fail which is a low probability. > > I’ve seen pipe broken due to someone closing a valve and not having a > pressure relief valve. Not knowing what kind of pipe/fittings are being > used it could be corrosion has made a hole. > > Not knowing the layout it might be possible to split the plumbing and see > if the leakage is above or in the well. > > Lots of fun possibilities > > Jay > > > On May 26, 2024, at 9:03 AM, Roy Butler via RE-wrenches < > re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > > Brad, > > Windy might chime in at some point to back me up on this but I see no way > for that pump to turn backwards. > Reverse flow is likely a leak at the pump, the down well piping or at the > pitless adapter if there is one. > > Roy.... > > Another old time solar and wind guy, hoping to be retired someday :-). > > Roy Butler > Four Winds Renewable Energy, LLC > 8902 Route 46, Arkport, NY 14807 > > > Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when > you don’t. > > “The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it.” > > Although no trees were killed in the sending of this message, > a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced. > > > > On 5/26/2024 10:10 AM, Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar via RE-wrenches wrote: > > Hey Brad, > > Sometimes shooting is best if you tell more on what you have done so far > like using the SQF shooting guide, especially on a holiday weekend😉 > Assume there is a CU200 controller and pump is in ground still, must be > with 100ft head, sorry > No high amps? It runs, How old? > > --Dave > > > > *Dave Angelini Offgrid Solar > "we go where powerlines don't" > <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/>https://offgridsolar1.com/ > <https://offgridsolar1.com/> <http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/> > e-mail offgridso...@sti.net <offgridso...@sti.net> > text 209 813 0060* > > > On 2024-05-26 4:26 am, Jay via RE-wrenches wrote: > > Hi Brad > > With 2 check valves leaking I’d look for a broken pipe or a corroded > fitting. > > If there is anyway to isolate between the 2 check valves then you could > measure the pressure drop on both sides which should point to the direction > of the leak. > > Jay > > On May 25, 2024, at 7:41 PM, Bradley Bassett via RE-wrenches < > re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > > > I have a water system with a Grundfos SQFlex SQF3-2 pump. I'm getting > water flow in reverse either through the pump or a leak up to the pump. My > question is if the check valve on the top of the pump is not sealing, will > the progressive cavity pump allow water to flow through the pump in > reverse? I'd think that with a positive displacement pump it would not, > except very slowly or if it turned the motor backwards which I think would > be very unlikely. There is about 100 psi head on the pump. > > I think it's most likely I have a leak somewhere in the plumbing, and of > course another failed check valve farther up in the plumbing. It's possible > to get failures even with redundant protection if you have two concurrent > failures, which I must have here. > > Brad Bassett > Old time solar guy who used to do solar pumping back in the '80's and > '90's. Mostly retired now. > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. 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When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & > settings:http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other:https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette:http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios:http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. 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