Pump Turns on and off too often

[Tom101]

When I am running water on my yard, my well pump continues to come on for about 2 minutes and then off for about 2 minutes.  I recently had to replace my pressure switch because the points were burned.  Is this bad for my pump and if so, how can I fix it?

[Cary Austin]

When you are running water you must use as much water as your pump will produce.  If you have a 20 GPM pump then you must always use 20 GPM.  If you are only using 10 GPM and your pump is producing 20 GPM, the other 10 GPM is going into the pressure tank until it reaches 60 PSI and the pressure switch shuts off the pump.  Then the 10 GPM that you are still using drains the tank from 60 PSI to 40 PSI and the pressure switch starts the pump again.  Your pump could be destroyed by pumping a lot of sand or might get hit by lightning but, most pumps are destroyed from excessive cycling on and off.  Pumps are made to run continuously and the worst thing you can do is let them cycle on and off.  If your pump is on for 2 minutes and off for 2 minutes then it can cycle 360 times every 24 hours or 131,400 times per year.  Submersible pumps and motors are only designed to last about 180,000 cycles.  The sooner you use up these 180,000 cycles, the sooner you are going to have to buy a new pump.  A Cycle Stop Valve knows how much water you are using and chokes back the flow from the pump to match the amount of water you are using.  If you are using 10 GPM then the CSV makes the pump produce only 10 GPM.  Then there is no extra water being produced to cause the tank to fill so cycling is eliminated.  A burned pressure switch is usually the first indication that your pump is cycling excessively.  To stop a pump from cycling excessively you either need to run enough water to use everything the pump will produce, install about four times as many pressure tanks as normal, or use a Cycle Stop Valve to continually vary the output of the pump to match the amount of water you are using.

For more info see these Links;
http://www.cyclestopvalves.com/video/commercial-dsl.wmv
http://cyclestopvalves.com/homeowners_3.html
http://cyclestopvalves.com/homeowners_1.html
http://cyclestopvalves.com/references_2.html