Need help. pressure goes way too high way too fast

[DanielG]

Hello everyone

So, i have a csv1a installed in my water pressure system.  I have a small tank ( bladder ) and a pump installed on top of it. had it set at 30-50psi.   it worked great for a long time. up till last weekend.

I live in northern Mexico and the freezing temps of the last week that hit texas left me with no power on sunday for like 6-8 hours and i believe that maybe some of the water in the pipes that go from my well to the pump/tank were perhaps frozen. Well its friday now and we haven had freezen temps for over 3 days so if the pipes were iced they would be thawed by now.

oh and fyi, the pressure gauges ( i have 2 ) the one in the pump ( which is before the csv1a) was stuck at 18 psi  , and the pressure gauge installed in my csv1a was firm at 50psi the whole week ( which i thought was odd that it reads 50 if i have no water in the house.  So i tried turning the pump on several times this week to see if the ice was thawed.  the pump turns on but no water comes in the house and the pressure gauges stay firm at 18 (pre csv1a)  and 50psi ( on the csv1a)

So we have been without water for the whole week, been calling plumbers for a few days but they're in high demand right now and cant get one for at least a few more days, so i got the courage with the help of a friend who knows a bit about plumbing to see whats going on with the pump.    The pipe that comes from the well was empty , and my friend tells me that it needs to be full so that the water in it pulls the water in the well, we also added a bit of water on the top of the pump ( had a plug that we took off and filled it).

so i turned the pump back on , and it worked!  , i had water in the house. but i went to look at the pressure gauges and both were pushing into the high 70s. so i turned off the pump again ( dont want burst pipes). i opened more faucets to hopefully bring the pressure back down and it only went back to 50 ( well 48-49 to be exact ).   so next i asked my buddy to stay near the pressure gauges when i turned it back on and he said that it shot up to the high 70s again in less than a few seconds.

oh, and i checked the air pressure on the tank  23.5 psi  btw.

any ideas on whats going on? 

[DanielG]

I just realized something.

We also opened the pipe from the pump to the csv1a to make sure it wasn't iced up.   And it was empty .

So the pipe co necting the pump to the csv1a had no water then why is the pressure gauge at 50.?  Do these get stuck?  Could it be that it's treating 50 as a new 0 ?  That would explain why it jumps to the 70s so fast

[Cary Austin]

Yes your pressure gauges froze and need to be replaced.  they will add whatever they are stuck on to the actual pressure.  If it is stuck at 50 and is showing 70, you only have 20 PSI in the system.  Replace the gauges so you can see what you are doing.  However, the pressure switch is probably still working at the right pressure.  So if it builds up and shuts of, it is probably good no matter what the gauge says.  Yes the suction pipe and pump need to be primed full of water.  When the pump comes on it will fill the pipes after the pump and the CSV.  Sorry for your problem.

[DanielG]

THANK YOU, with that in mind i turned it back on and all is working.

i have water now , yeah the gauges read way high , ill get them replaced in a few days.