CSV on an old well pump

[mainegeek]

I'm looking for some guidance.  I've read over everything I could digest / understand on the Cycle Stop Valve webpage, forums, Amazon reviews, etc etc

I've got an 18 year old house built in 1998.  The well pump is original but the pressure tank and tee assembly were recently replaced by me.  The pressure switch had gotten dirty and wasn't cutting off before the high pressure mark and causing the pressure relief valve to open up.  This caused us to also discover that our old 20 gal Well-X-Trol tank had also failed at some point and we had water getting above the diaphragm.

My cousin has a well drilling business so he asked me to take a picture of my current tank setup and he hooked me up with everything I needed to swap it out.  At the time I already knew about CSV's and when I asked him about it he told that it's been working fine for all these years and to just leave it and likely our short cycling was caused by the failed tank.

The new tank is a Flex-Lite FL7 (22 gal).  I've got the tank charged on empty at 48 psi and the pressure switch set to 50/70.  I'm guessing I have about 5.5 gal drawdown from the tank setup this way.

The new tank has been installed for a little over 2 months and I still find that we are short cycling.  It takes almost exactly 30 sec for the pump to fill the tank back up to 70 PSI.  During a shower the pump turns on and off constantly.  I can only imagine what filling my 7000 gal pool does to it.  We can't even flush a toilet then subsequently wash our hands without a cycle.  I'm sure it's always been like this but I'm noticing it more now that I'm paying attention.

I don't know the specifics on my well or pump.  The information under the casing was never filled out by the well driller.  I do know from a previous problem (chaffed pump wire) that my pump sits about 125' to 150' down but I don't know how deep the well actually is.  The static water level is (best estimate) about 15' down.  I calculated my GPM using the drawdown / fill method at a hose bib and I get around 10 GPM.

It's seems my 2 options to increase the pump run time and limit cycles are A) a bigger tank (50 gal for ~1 min run) or B) a Cycle Stop Valve

Option A is sort of out since it would be like spitting in my cousins face.  Option B worries me because of the age of my well pump.

When my pump finally dies I don't plan to replace it with a variable speed pump.  I figure a CSV valve now will already be in place to help protect a new pump.

With all said, is there any concern adding a CSV valve in my setup may cause immediate problems?  I know the pump could literally die at anytime but if there is a chance the back pressure, restricted flow, etc would possibly kill my 18 year old pump I think I would rather only add a CSV after I get a new pump.  On the hand, if the CSV gets me more time with the current pump then I'm all for it.

Sorry for the long post.  I was just trying to be as detailed of the situation as possible.  I'm just looking for some knowledgable feedback on my particular situation.

Thanks,
Kris

EDIT: One more question, will a CSV valve also help with water hammer caused by fast shutting solenoids on a Washing Machine or Dishwasher?  We've never had water hammer in our house until we replaced our appliances and now I can't seem to do anything to get rid of it (i.e. more pipe fasteners, hammer arrestors, etc)

EDIT AGAIN: I forgot to mention what I do know about my pump currently is that it is a 220v 2-wire pump on a double 15 amp breaker.

[Cary Austin]

I knew it was a 10 GPM pump when you said it filled that 5 gallon draw tank in 30 seconds.  The CSV will fix all those problems.  The CSV cannot do anything about the damage your pump has already experienced from all the cycling, but it will keep it from seeing more damage.

Variable speed pumps are a scam.  They DO NOT save energy and are only designed to separate you from as much of your hard earned money as possible.  Once you install a CSV you will have the newest, most beneficial, and long lasting constant pressure system available.  The CSV was designed to replace VFD's and has been doing so successfully since 1993.  They keep making newer, smaller, cheaper VFD's, but mother nature will never let them solve the actual problems associated with VFD's.

If your old pump lasted that long while cycling so much, it will last several times longer with a CSV.  If the pump fails you should just replace it with the same kind of pump you have, and let the CSV give you the constant pressure without all the problems that come with a VFD.

[mainegeek]

Sorry for the late reply.  Thanks for the info.  I'm still not sure if I want to add a CSV now or when I get a new pump when this one dies.  Besides replacing the tank I also failed a water test so I need to add a pH neutralizer and a UV sterilizer (luckily no E. coli).  This years MAJOR home project seems to be about potable water.  Hopefully the pump waits for a different year to die!

When I replaced the tank, my cousin also sent me a new check valve to install between the pump and the tank.  I've read your info along with other resources about multiple check valves being bad.  I do get hammer thumps when the pump turns on.  You can hear it through out the house -- always have.

I don't know if my foot valve on pump is still good though.  The way my plumbing is setup, adding the CSV after the check valve would require me to re-plumb part of the house side. With that said, it looks to me like I could remove and replace the check valve with the CSV1A w/o requiring any additional plumbing work?  All this assumes my foot valve is good though.

Thanks again

EDIT: One more question, with pressure switch set at 50/70 and a 20 gal tank with ~5 gal draw down and 10 GPM pump, what would I set pressure for the CSV valve to maintain?  It seem's to me I'd probably want something like 65 PSI.  I'm just thinking 10 PSI difference = 2.5 gal so at 65 PSI (~1.25 gal) should take a minute or so to fill.  Maybe my math is wrong...

[Cary Austin]

Yes you can put the CSV in place of the check valve.  Removing the above ground check should make the lower one work better.  If the lower check is bad, adding another check up top will just make the water hammer worse.